General Atlantic may pick up stake in IndusInd Media - report

MUMBAI (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic LLC (GA) is looking to pick up a 'significant' stake in cable company IndusInd Media and Communications, the Mint newspaper said on Tuesday.

The report, which cited two people familiar with the matter, did not detail the size of the stake General Atlantic is likely to buy or the deal size.

The proposed investment comes after India passed the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2011, which makes it compulsory for cable companies to convert their analogue systems to digital in a phased manner by 2014.

India's Hinduja Group owned IndusInd is looking to raise funds as it needs money to meet the digitisation deadline, the report quoted one person as saying.

The U.S. private equity firm also wanted to increase its presence in India, the report said, citing another source.

Last month, General Atlantic said the sharp depreciation of India's currency and a stock market decline have created a good entry point for private equity investments in the South Asian nation.

IndusInd has not finalised anything and is still in the process of evaluating a few proposals, Ravi Mansukhani, chief executive was quoted as saying in the report.

Reuters could not reach General Atlantic and IndusInd for a comment immediately.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Subhadip Sircar)