NTT DoCoMo to leave India due to challenging market

NTT DoCoMo wants to unload its investment in India’s seventh-largest cellular carrier, Tata Teleservices, in a retreat from India’s challenging market. Japan’s largest mobile telecommunications firm by subscribers said it wants to sell the entire 26.5 percent stake acquired in 2009, citing a range of negative factors. The Japanese company has yet to find a potential buyer, but it has decided to exercise its option to sell the stake if TTSL didn’t meet performance targets in the fiscal year to March 31, 2014.

 NTT Docomo Inc. 9437.TO +0.77% plans to sell its entire stake in an Indian telecom joint venture, adding its name to the roster of cautionary tales for blue-chip firms seeking entry into India’s fast-growing but challenging market.  Following five years of losses plagued by telecom license cancellations in a corruption probe and repeated delays in rolling out high-speed networks, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier said it plans to sell its 26.5% stake in Tata Teleservices by June. The pullout underlines the aversion many Japanese companies have to dealing with the unexpected in India, even as the country’s government seeks to raise its presence there as a counterpoint to its economic dependence on China. While India’s government is trying to ease some regulations, investment rules in the country are still considered unfriendly to foreign investors.