Daimler to put $420 mln in new Indian JV - paper

MUMBAI, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Germany's Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will invest about 16.5 billion rupees ($420 million) and take 60 percent in a commercial vehicle joint venture with India's Hero Group, the Economic Times said on Thursday in an unsourced report.

"These figures were communicated by the German company to the government last week," the paper said.

A spokesman for Daimler in India declined comment.

A Hero Group official said they were not ready to comment on the details of the joint venture.

"We are still working on it, and will probably have something early next week," the official said.

Daimler and the Hero Group earlier this month said they had formed a joint venture for the manufacture of light-, medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles in India.

They said at the time they expected the transaction to close at the end of the first quarter of 2008, when more details of the venture would be announced.

The Indian government earlier this week approved Daimler's proposal for a joint venture for building bus bodies, but did not mention the size of the investment or name the local partner.

Daimler, which also makes its luxury Mercedes-Benz cars in India, now has a venture with India's Sutlej Motors for buses.