The BBC said today that it intended to retain a part of the Hindi news service it had originally earmarked for closure while it explores the possibility of transferring the service to a commercial organisation.

The BBC Hindi radio was one of five separate services scheduled for closure as part of the outcome of the corporation’s Spending Review 2010 settlement.

The corporation said today that since the announcement of the results of the review it had been approached by a ‘number of commercial parties’with alternative funding proposals.