NEW DELHI - India has postponed till the beginning of June sea trials of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, which is being overhauled for the Indian Navy in Russia, local media reported.

The vessel was originally scheduled to sail for trials in the White Sea and the Barents Sea on May 25.

"The start of the sea trials has been moved to the beginning of June," The Times of India quoted a spokesperson for the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia where the ship is being refurbished as saying.

The purchase of the Soviet-built Admiral Gorshkov was agreed in 2005 but delivery to India has been long delayed. The cost of refurbishing the aircraft carrier, to be renamed INS Vikramaditya, has since gone up from $947 million to over $2 billion, the newspaper said.

Admiral Gorshkov's delivery to the Indian Navy is slated for December 2012.