Tatas, Bangladesh discuss $2.5bn deal
The Asian Age — May 30, 2005

India's Tata Group held its first round of negotiations with the Bangladesh government on a $2.5-billion investment proposal in fertiliser, steel and power projects here. The Indian conglomerate is to come back on June 19 to resume talks, official sources said here after the talks on Saturday. The 15member Tata Group team was impressed with the outcome of its negotiations in the last four days, and will enter the "next stage of talks for reaching serious understanding" on the investment proposal.

The Tata Group executives, including its Bangladesh liaison office chief Manjer Hossain and its senior executive director, Alan Rosling, wrapped up the meeting with finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan at the Bangladesh secretariat on Saturday. During this round of negotiations, the Tata Group asked Bangladesh to ensure uninterrupted supply of around two trillion cubic feet of gas for 30 years for its projects.

The group had submitted a feasibility study in April, scaling up its proposed investment to $2.5 billion, from the initial $2 billion, in steel, power and fertiliser plants. It expects that its planned investments will generate annual exports worth $1 billion from Bangladesh. India's Tata Group held its first round of negotiations with the Bangladesh government on a $2.5 billion investment proposal in fertiliser, steel and power projects here.

The Indian conglomerate is to come back on June 19 to resume talks, official sources said here after the talks on Saturday. The 15 member Tata Group team was impressed with the outcome of its negotiations in the last four days, and will enter the "next stage of talks for reaching serious understanding" on the investment proposal.

The Tata Group executives, including its Bangladesh liaison office chief Manjer Hossain and its senior executive director, Alan Rosling, wrapped up the meeting with finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan at the Bangladesh secretariat on Saturday. During this round of negotiations, the Tata Group asked Bangladesh to ensure uninterrupted supply of around two trillion cubic feet of gas for 30 years for its projects.

The group had submitted a feasibility study in April, scaling up its proposed investment to $2.5 billion, from the initial $2 billion, in steel, power and fertiliser plants. It expects that its planned investments will generate annual exports worth $1 billion from Bangladesh. In October 2004, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata had visited the Bangladesh capital to witness the signing of an Expression of Interest with the Board of Investment on its proposed investments.

The Tata Group, as per its Expression of Interest, proposed $700 million investment in a basic steel mill and an equal amount in a 1,000 megawatt power generation project, and another $600 million for a fertiliser factory. The group wants to prospect for coal to fuel its power plant.