Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson believes his group's bid for Northern Rock would see the taxpayer recoup nearly £30 billion in loans.

Sir Richard, speaking in the Indian capital New Delhi where he is accompanying Prime Minister Gordon Brown on an official visit as part of a business delegation, said he had yet to see the fine print of a Treasury announcement about proposals for the bank's future.

But he said: "Superficially we are happy. Sir Brian Pitman, chairman of the Virgin Bank will be examining it over the next two weeks.

"We will put our best foot forward in two weeks' time and obviously we hope we are successful.

"I haven't seen the details of the package. We believe from what we have seen that the package is workable and it should be possible for a private consortium like the Virgin Bank to make a go of it, but obviously we need to see the small print."

Asked what he was offering, Sir Richard said hundreds of millions of pounds would be involved and added: "We are putting our Virgin brands and our reputation in.

"The important thing from the taxpayers' point of view is that all the money that has been loaned to Northern Rock is paid back.

"We believe that will be possible and we believe most jobs will be saved."

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