Hindujas also aim Hutchison Essar

MUMBAI:Indian business group Hinduja proposes to bid for Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications' stake in India's fourth-biggest mobile phone firm Hutchison Essar Ltd., a newspaper said on Thursday.

The Business Standard newspaper quoted Hinduja TMT executive chairman Ashok Hinduja as saying, "We will definitely place our proposal before Hutchison Whampoa. We have written to Hutchison Whampoa enquiring if it indeed wants to sell its shareholding in Hutchison Essar. We expect to hear from them in a day or two."

It did not give further details and Hinduja could not be reached immediately for comment.

Britain's Vodafone Group Plc and India's second largest mobile company Reliance Communications Ltd. have already expressed their interest in buying a stake in Hutchison Essar.

Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd., which holds 67 percent of the Indian unit, has said it has

received proposals to buy its stake but has not given details.

The Hinduja family, which runs the back office firm Hinduja TMT and bus and truck maker Ashok Leyland Ltd.,

used to hold a 5.1 percent stake in Hutchison Essar but sold it to Hutchison last June for $450 million.

India's Essar group controls the remaining 33 percent of Hutchison Essar.