United Bank of India plans to raise as much as 3.3 billion rupees ($72 million) in the first initial public offer by a state-owned lender since Central Bank of India’s share sale in July 2007.

The Kolkata-based bank will sell 50 million shares between 60 rupees and 66 rupees apiece starting Feb. 23, Chairman Satish Gupta told reporters in Mumbai today. The final price will be revealed two days before the issue opens and retail investors will get a 5 percent discount, he said.

The proceeds from the share sale will help the bank meet growing demand for loans in the second-most populous nation, Gupta said. India’s economy, Asia’s third largest, may expand more than 8 percent in the year starting April 1, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters today in New Delhi.

“In the last five years, our business has grown at an average 32 percent and we will continue to grow at the same rate in the future,” United Bank’s Gupta said.

SBI Capital Markets Ltd., Enam Securities Pvt. and Edelweiss Capital Ltd. are managers to the sale that closes on Feb. 25. The offer, which includes 2.5 million shares reserved for employees, accounts for 15.8 percent of the expanded equity, with the government holding the rest.

United Bank, which has 20 million customers in 28 states, reported a profit of 2.31 billion rupees on revenue of 27.8 billion rupees in the six months ended Sept. 30.