HONG KONG, Jan 30 Merrill Lynch MER.N has named banking veteran Sumeet Puri as he

HONG KONG, Jan 30 (Reuters) Merrill Lynch has named banking veteran Sumeet Puri as head of equity capital markets for its Indian joint venture, as Wall Street firms rapidly expand their teams in the booming market.

Puri, who had been head of Asian execution and syndication, will also be in charge of Indian structured origination, as moreinvestment banks are focusing on private structured transactions to boost profits, according to a memo obtained on Tuesday.

Merrill in December 2005 said it would pay $500 million to increase its stake in its DSP Merrill Lynch joint venture in India to a controlling 90 percent from 40 percent.

Merrill was the fourth-ranked bookrunner of Indian equity deals last year, according to market data provider Dealogic, working on deals including the $1.2 billion initial public offering of Cairn India Ltd. , the Indian unit of Britain's Cairn Energy Plc.

The firm is also one of several working on the IPO of Indian real estate developer DLF Ltd., which could raise more than $2 billion this year in what would be India's largest-ever listing.

Puri, who has spent part of his career in Mumbai, is one of a growing number of bankers who are returning to India as deal volumes heat up and salaries for top talent become competitive with those in more developed markets like Hong Kong.

Indian investment banking revenues rose 23 percent to a record $413 million last year, although fees on individual deals tend to be lower than in other markets due to intense competition.

Indian equity deals had an average fee of about 1.6 percent last year, compared with nearly 2.3 percent for an average Chinese deal.

It is also common for a large number of banks to work on each deal, further shrinking each firm's take.

Merrill also named Soofian Zuberi and Jason Cox as its co-heads of Asia ECM. Zuberi, a 12-year Merrill veteran, had been running ECM for Southeast Asia in Singapore and will relocate to Hong Kong.

Cox, who has worked in Asia since 1995 and joined Merrill from Goldman Sachs two years ago, had been working on equity deals in South Korea, Taiwan and China.

REUTERS PV ND1124