Last checked at 
* IPO expected to raise as much as $2.5 billion
* Set to be biggest IPO in India since 2010 (Adds details on Vodafone India operations, background)
By Sumeet Chatterjee and Elzio Barreto
HONG KONG, June 23 (Reuters) - Vodafone Group islikely to file a draft prospectus for a planned listing of itsIndian business in August ahead of a market debut in the fourthquarter, in a deal expected to raise as much as $2.5 billion,people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Vodafone's plans come against the backdrop of an 18 percentrise in India's broader share market index in the pastfour months, which has boosted the outlook for new share salesin the near-term.
The company had been expected to aim for early next year forthe listing, set to be India's biggest since 2010.
The British telecoms group, India's largest mobile operatorafter Bharti Airtel, has begun work on the prospectusthat would include the Indian division's financial results forthe first half of the calendar year, the people said.
Vodafone hired Bank of America Corp, India's KotakInvestment Banking, UBS AG in April as globalcoordinators for the initial public offering.
Europe's biggest mobile telecoms group also hired DeutscheBank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and ICICISecurities, part of India's ICICI Bank to help withthe offering.
A London-based Vodafone spokesman declined to comment on thetimeline, saying the potential India IPO was a lengthy processand no decision would be made until the company was at the endof it.
Sources, who declined to be identified as the information isnot public, said that the exact timing of the IPO would dependon local stock market conditions.
Vodafone had first raised the prospect of a listing in Indiaas early as 2011. The company said in November last year it hadstarted preparations for a float.
Vodafone, one of the largest corporate investors in Asia'sthird-largest economy, is expected to use the proceeds to buyadditional radio spectrum and further expand its operationsacross India's crowded market.
The British company entered India in 2007, when it bought amajority stake in Hutchison Essar. Since 2014, it has whollyowned the Indian business, which operates in a market that hasover a billion mobile users - the second-biggest global marketbehind China.
Vodafone's India business had 198 million subscribers as ofend-April, with about a 19.1 percent share of the total market,according to data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
In the financial year ended March 31, the Indian businessreported 5 percent growth in its total revenue to 449 billionIndian rupees ($6.68 billion), while its net debt stood at about815 billion rupees.
($1 = 67.2400 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Elzio Barreto; Additionalreporting by Himank Sharma in MUMBAI; Editing by Susan Fentonand Jane Merriman)
