If one man can be created with taking the Indian manufacturing sector to world standards, it should be Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata. The made-in-India car he dreamt up has not only kept the Chinese automobile companies at bay, but is now getting ready to hit the British roads.

The Tata group’s foray into the passenger car segment came at a time when the Rs.58,000 crore Indian automobile sector was dominated by Japanese car major Maruti Suzuki and Korean firm Hyundai. With the Indica, Tata re-wrote the way Indian passenger car companies were doing business. Now, his car sells over 7,500 units per month, second only to the best-selling M 800.

“While China continues to lead in registering robust economic growth with very significant increases in domestic consumption, India has also seen a revival of its economy after some years of demand recession, which affected several sectors of the economy,” says Tata. “Clearly, domestic confidence in the new policy directions by the government, the effects of the substantial investments in road and housing infrastructure and the greater availability of finance, have all contributed to this revival.”

But the success of the Indica is not limited to the domestic market. The Rs.10,604 crore Tata Motors is now exporting Indicas to the UK following a marketing deal with Rover AG. Named Cityrover, Indica is firs real Indian car to be exported from the country.

The milestone is a long way from the mid’90s AGM when Chairman Tata announced to surprised shareholders that the company would invest Rs.1,700 crore in the Indian automobile industry . Not many gave the company a chance, then – and the scepticism seemed justified when the first batch of turned out to have major manufacturing flaws. This was also the time when Chinese companies were targeting Indian markets.

But the company learnt from its mistakes and came out with Version 2 in 2001. The sales were enough to give the jitters to No.1 Maruti and No. 2 Hyundai . the Indigo, the later model in the C segment, is also doing well, with a four-week post-booking waiting period. Tata’s car division sells over 13,000 units per month.