new partnerships | sectorwise | international operations | company awards and achievements | people in the news

"The year 2006 has been another successful year for the Tata Group, and we have every reason to be proud of our achievements. The Group is now being recognised outside India for its achievements, and its image is steadily being transformed to that of a bolder, stronger and more aggressive business group." — Group Chairman Ratan Tata

The year gone by saw the Tata Group take further steps towards becoming a global player in the world economy. It was marked with new overseas acquisitions, collaborations and JVs, new product launches, awards and a wider recognition for excellence. The happenings within the Group had parallels in the Indian economy as well. With several Indian companies going for overseas acquisitions, the flow of investments abroad nearly equalled foreign investments into the economy. The stock indices too scaled new heights, making India the fourth largest stock market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Laurels came from abroad as the Group became the only Indian entity to be listed by Forbes among the top 20 of the world's most reputed corporations. It was also the only Indian organisation to be awarded the 2006 Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Award.

The Tatas abiding commitment to community welfare and services received recognition and accolades as well, which included the Civil Society Award given by UNAIDS for fighting AIDS / HIV in India.

	Advinus set up a new drug discovery centre at the Biotech Park, Pune. It also forged an alliance with Veeda CR, an Anglo-Indian clinical research organisation from UK, and with Merck for developing new clinical drugs for metabolic disorders.
	Indian Hotels formed a partnership with Eurocape in South Africa to jointly develop the Mandela Rhodes Palace, and joined hands with Qatar Sports Investment Company (QSI) to develop Qatar's first five-star golf and spa hotel in Doha.
	TCS ventured into China with TCS China — a joint venture with the Chinese government and Microsoft.
	Tata Motors entered into an agreement with the Fiat group for an industrial joint venture in the country with investments of over Rs 4,000 crore.
	Tata Strategic Management Group entered into an alliance with The Excellence Center (TEC), a corporate department of the Dubai World Group, for provision of management consultation services.
	VSNL entered into collaboration with major global telecom firms to set up a new submarine cable linking India, the Middle East and Western Europe.
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A bird's-eye view of what 2006 has meant to the Tata Group and its achievements in the seven sectors it operates in:
Materials
The major highlight of the year in this sector was Tata Steel's bid for Corus, which has been making headlines in the media because of the counter bid by Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). If the deal goes through, it will make Tata Steel the fifth largest steel maker in the world. Read more about new partnerships

Consumer products
With some of the major business groups, such as Wal-Mart, Woolworths and Tesco, slated to enter the organised retail sector in India this year, Tata companies in this sector geared up with major acquisitions, new ventures and product launches. Read more 2006 headlines

Tata Tea bagged the limelight again with a 30-per cent stake in Energy Brands, the US-based maker of Glacéau vitamin water. Read more about new partnerships

Information technology, communications
This rapidly expanding sector saw major IT companies in an overseas expansion drive. Several group companies, prominent being Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), achieved new milestones by bagging major overseas contracts, and global recognition of their quality services. Read more 2006 headlines

TCS acquired a 75-per cent stake in Switzerland-based TKS-Teknosoft. It also bagged major overseas contracts from prominent business groups such as United Biscuits (UK), Sequenom (US), the Balfour Beatty Utilities group, Somerfield (UK), the Saudi Telecom Company, and its largest pharma contract from Eli Lily. The company also expanded its international presence with new centres at Uruguay and Morocco. Read more about new partnerships

Engineering
India emerged as a manufacturing hub for compact cars, and group company Tata Motors put itself in a strong position on the international map, and achieved the historical milestone of selling its four-millionth vehicle in India. Read more about awards and achievements

The company acquired Mechanical Engineering GmbH of Stuttgart and Nissan's manufacturing unit in South Africa. It also signed a supply contract with Brazilian bus manufacturer Marcopolo. Read more 2006 headlines

Services
The major highlights of the year were the launch of the Tata Sky satellite television service and the Tata credit card, India's first credit-cum-coalition loyalty card. Tata AIG Insurance became the first company to enter the micro-insurance sector in India. Read more about new product launches

In the hospitality sector, Indian Hotels acquired the Ritz-Carlton at Boston, and inaugurated new branches of its GenNext Ginger hotels at Bhubaneshwar, Mysore, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. The company also launched its luxury wilderness lodge at the Bandhavgarh National Park. Read more 2006 headlines

Energy
Some significant achievements in the power sector included Tata Power's agreement with Siemens Project Ventures in the bidding for the Sasan and Mundra power projects, and Tata BP Solar bagging a Rs 20-million order for setting up solar power systems for Larsen & Toubro. Read more about new partnerships

	Tata Tea took steps to set up a 3,600-tonne instant coffee plant in Uganda in collaboration with Tata Africa.
	Tata Steel announced its new $120-million ferro-chrome plant at Richards Bay, South Africa.
	Titan Industries opened a new office in Hong Kong.
	VSNL rebranded its telecom venture in South Africa as Neotel which also signed a Rand 2 billion bridging debt facility with a consortium of South African financial institutions.

	Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces bagged the top company award in the hospitality sector at the Dun & Bradstreet American Express Corporate Award 2006.
	Tata Motors commercial business unit won the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Exim Bank Award for Business Excellence 2005.
	Titan Industries featured in the Dun and Bradsheet (D&B) list of India's top 500 companies with a rank of 198. It also won major awards in the retail sector, including the Fashion Retailer of the Year award from the India Retail Forum, and was recognised as the number two retail organisation in the country by Retail Asia Publishing, Singapore.
	TCS bagged the coveted annual Economic Times Award for corporate excellence and the CII-Exim Bank award for business excellence.
	Tata Steel won the 'Best Governed Company Award 2006' for setting high standards in corporate practices from the Asian Centre for Corporate Governance. It was ranked as the best steel making company in the world for the third consecutive year by World Steel Dynamics Inc, USA.
	Tinplate Company of India was the star at the CII (ER) Annual Awards ceremony with three awards: 'Sustained level of high overall productivity', 'Certificate of appreciation for safety, health and environment' and 'Certificate of appreciation for commendable effort for human resource development'.
	Tata Refractories, Belpahar, was awarded Integrated Management System (IMS) certification by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI).
	VSNL was selected as the top company for American Express Corporate Awards 2006 by D&B India.
	VSNL Singapore, the international arm of the Videsh Sanchar Nigam, was named the 'Best Wholesale Carrier' at the 2006 World Communication Awards (WCA).
	Tata Sponge received the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) certificate from the UN executive board for its power project that converts waste heat into power.
	Rallis India received a silver medal from the Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India for its '4S' rural marketing campaign.
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People in the news

	Adding to the lustre of the Tata Group were the prestigious awards and recognition given to its management. Group Chairman Ratan Tata received the FIRST Award for Responsible Capitalism at a special ceremony at Marlborough House, London, and was conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences for his outstanding contribution to society. He was also honoured with the Maharashtra Bhushan Award for 2005-06 by the Maharashtra state government, and the Entrepreneur Of The Decade award by the Bombay Management Association. He was also appointed on the board of Fiat Spa as an independent director.
	S Ramadorai, CEO & MD of TCS, was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India and was named the sixth most influential person in the global enterprise IT sector by Computer Business Review.
	B Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel, was appointed on the board of the UN Global Compact by General Kofi Annan.
	James Zhan joined the Tata Group as chief representative, China, from August 1, 2006. He will be based in Beijing at the Group representative office.
	Laura M Cha, former vice-chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, joined Tata Consultancy Services as an independent director.
	Jeffrey Freeman, former Mariani Packing executive vice president, joined The Tetley Group, a subsidiary of Tata Tea, as president of Good Earth Teas.
	Trevor Bull, earlier VP and general manager at the American International Assurance in Korea, joined the Group as MD of Tata AIG Life Insurance.
	Clayton M Christensen was appointed as an independent director on the board of TCS. He is the Robert and Jane Cizik professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School.
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