New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS): Force India boss Vijay Mallya says he has no plans to sell his Formula One team as has been suggested in some quarters.

"I was shocked to read a media report that I am selling the Force India team. This is completely untrue and without any basis whatsoever," Mallya said in a statement Friday.

A newspaper report Thursday said that Mallya is in talks with Subrata Roy led Sahara India Pariwar to sell Force India and the deal is on the verge of being finalised.

"I take great pride in having been able to put an Indian team on the F1 World Championship grid and have worked very hard to greatly improve the performance of the team. Now that India is finally on the F1 calendar (the Indian Grand Prix), my commitment to Force India only gets even stronger. As Team Principal, I will continue to run the team and I have no plans whatsoever to exit," Mallya maintained.

The Silverstone-based team is getting better with each race and has scored 36 out of its 48 points in the last five races. Force India's best result came in the Singapore night race where its drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil came sixth and eight respectively.

The team is currently sixth in the Constructor's Championship and is confident on dislodging fifth placed Renault by the end of the season.