Berlin: Vijay Mallya, chairman of the spirits-to-airline major UB Group, has initiated talks with France-based EADS Socata, a leading aircraft manufacturer, to invest some $200 million to co-develop business jets for which India has now emerged as a hot market.

"We want to look at a global organisation that has service centres in place with tools to market in the country," EADS Socata spokesman Phillipe de Segovia told IANS, confirming that the group was in talks with Mallya and other international companies.

"We had earlier started talks with IndUS Aviation, an Indian-American aircraft maker with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, and Bangalore, three years ago," de Segovia said, adding that the talks did not progress.

A phone inquiry to Vijay Mallya was replied with a monosyllabic "no comment".

At the U.S. National Business Aviation Association's annual meeting and convention in Atlanta last September, Mallya had pledged a personal stake of $200 million to the US-based Epic Aircraft to develop its very light jets.

He said these jets would be manufactured and promoted for India and the Middle East markets. Now, however, the deal between Epic Aircraft and Mallya is believed to be over.