Japan's NTT Docomo to exit Indian market - Nikkei

REUTERS - Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc will unload its 26 percent stake in its loss-making Indian mobile phone joint venture, Tata Teleservices Ltd, and withdraw from the country, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

The joint venture, operating under the Tata DoCoMo brand, had 63 million mobile customers as at the end of March, ranking in No.7 in the crowded Indian market.

The Japanese mobile giant is in talks to unload the stake to the Tata Group, the Nikkei said in an unsourced report. (http://link.reuters.com/gyn78v).

Docomo apparently booked related impairment charges of about 50 billion yen ($489 million) in the year ended March 31, the newspaper reported.

DoCoMo bought its stake in the joint venture for $2.7 billion in 2009.

Tata Teleservices Ltd was not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 102.2350 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting By Aurindom Mukherjee and Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Rodney Joyce)