An Indian-Malaysian consortium kicked out of the Maldives two years after winning a contract to run the island nation's main airport is to seek $800 million in compensation, a report said Thursday.

The consortium, led by GMR Infrastructure, saw its contract revoked by the government last weekend in a politically motivated case that has soured relations between New Delhi and its southwestern neighbor.

Sidhartha Kapur, the chief financial officer of GMR Infrastructure's airports division, told The Wall Street Journal the firm had lodged a "rough estimate" for compensation with the Maldives of about $800 million. "We are working out the legal strategy," Kapur was quoted as saying.

The consortium of India's GMR and Malaysia Airports Holdings won a tender in 2010 under the former government to upgrade the Maldives' inter­national airport and run it for 25 years.

The decision by new President Mohamed Waheed to rescind the deal, allegedly due to corruption and the financial burden of the deal, provoked fury in New Delhi, which has threatened to suspend its aid payments.

AFP