Japan's NTT in race for India's Patni stake-paper

MUMBAI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Nippon Telepgraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan's largest phone company, has entered the race to buy a majority stake in Patni Computer System (PTNI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), the latest in a string of potential suitors eyeing India's No. 6 software services firm, the Economic Times said on Wednesday.

Other potential suitors include the software arm of Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Fujitsu (6702.T: Quote, Profile, Research), the newspaper said.

NTT is in talks with the founders of Patni and private equity firm General Atlantic, which bought an 18 percent stake in 2001, the paper said, citing two persons familiar with the matter.

Patni's chief executive, Jeya Kumar, said in the paper the founders had not indicated any desire to exit.

"We are not in discussions with NTT. We have an attractive business model and companies keep showing interest in us. The owners will not do anything that is detrimental to the company," Kumar told the paper.

Patni officials could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)