Bahraini Islamic investment bank Gulf Finance House said on Friday it had signed a deal to develop a $10 billion economic development zone near Mumbai to tap booming sectors such as energy and telecommunications.

The zone, located in an area of 1,600 acres alongside the Mumbai-Pune expressway, will include an energy city, a hub for the oil and gas industry in the western Maharashtra state.

It will also house a telecom city, a software city and an entertainment city, Gulf Finance House said in a statement.

"The opportunities that India offers within infrastructure and its allied sectors such as energy, software and telecommunications, are tremendous," Esam Janahi, chairman of Gulf Finance House, said in the statement.

The bank in October said it had raised $630 million for an Indian infrastructure project and said it would seek more cash for other investments.

India needs to invest $500 billion to improve road, port, housing, railway, airport and telecommunications infrastructure over the next four to five years, the government has said, to keep pace with its booming economy. - Reuters