Malaysian-based operator group Maxis is reportedly sounding out potential buyers for its Indian unit, Aircel, with discussions already thought to be underway with Russian conglomerate Sistema.

"Maxis sees itself as a long-term player in India, but will listen to offers, in the wake of regulatory and policy uncertainty,” a source told India’s Economic Times newspaper. “Bankers have brought many potential permutations and combinations for mergers and strategic alliances, including that of Sistema, to the company.”

The executive added that the Malaysian firm has held a “few rounds of discussions with bankers representing Sistema,” but that talks had not reached the due diligence stage.

According to the report, Maxis' decision to offload Aircel is partly linked with the probe against its founder Ananda Krishnan and other top officials for their alleged involvement in a government scandal that oversaw the sale of Aircel to Maxis in 2006.

Aircel (not to confused with market-leader Airtel) is India’s fifth-largest GSM player and the country’s seventh-largest mobile operator overall. According to Wireless Intelligence, Aircel had 62.6 million connections as of Q1 2012.

Russia’s Sistema owns India’s ninth largest operator, MTS India, which had 15.8 million connections in Q1.