Mallya happy to boost Spyker's budget

Mallya aims to buy a 50 percent stake in the Silverstone-based team along with Michiel Mol, with the deal set to be completed by the end of this month.

In an interview with the official Formula One website, Mallya has said he is open to giving the team a cash injection if he feels it will help lift their performance.

"The deal will be completed by the end of September," he said. "In between, I will sit down with the team management to come up with a sound budget.

"Just off the top of my head, in a very casual way, maybe yes, the budget has to be increased. And if it is justified and the money is spent in the right way, I have no problems in approving a bigger budget for the team."

Mallya said that there was a great deal of interest from companies in India keen to get involved in the outfit on the back of his deal.

"The excitement was so huge that there are people waiting in line now with their cheque book in their hand trying to partner with us," he explained. "I have not heard of anything like that in any other part of the world.

"And when we announced that the Indian flag would be part of the team colours and logo, there was an explosion of excitement romping through the country."

Mallya has said that he would be keen to have an Indian driver in the future, but refused to comment on whether Narain Karthikeyan or Karun Chandhok were in the frame.

He also made it clear that no decision had yet been made about whether the team will be renamed.

"I don't know if we can keep the name Spyker, as Spyker is a car company. One thing is for sure, I want to put the word India into the name of the team, but I have not really spent time on the name so far."