Tata plans to drive across LoC
Hindustan Times — August 30, 2005

Placing Pakistan and China high on its priority list for investments and joint ventures in areas like automobiles, IT and hotels, India's largest corporate house, Tatas, on Monday said it was waiting for Islamabad to open its doors for Indian businesses to unleash a major initiative. "I am hopeful that sometime in the near future Pakistan will open up the possibility for Indian business. When it does we will be there in the automotive business, we will be there in the hotel area and in the software area," Tata group chief Ratan Tata told agencies in an interview.

"We believe that we can establish viable businesses in Pakistan, even joint ventures with Pakistani companies to serve that country's economy," he said, exuding confidence that Tatas could add value and create jobs in Pakistan. On the group's expansion in China, Tata said, "In hotels, we have been endeavoring to do that. In software, we are already there. In automotives, we have some agreements, but we have not seen that much action so far."

Tata said he would like to see the group's presence in all the countries, where it enters, as an "enterprise in that country, working with that country and not against that country". Elaborating on the group's philosophy on international business expansion, he said he would be "most satisfied" if the group was remembered as a corporate citizen that really contributed to the growth and development of a country and "not one that took away from that country for our prosperity somewhere else".

Asked if the increased international presence would be through fresh investment or by way of acquisitions, Tata said, "It will be a mix of both." Terming the overseas operations as "internationalisation" instead of globalisation, which would mean presence in all continents, Tata said, "What we are trying to do is to dispel the feeling amongst the potential customers `oh, we are dealing with an Indian company'.

On Tata's Bangladesh foray where the group was proposing investment of $2.5 billion, Tata said they were negotiating with them (the government) for availability and cost of gas. "We are receiving a great deal of support from the government." Stating that the investment in Bangladesh might be the largest in areas of infrastructure in that country, Tata said the project (Bangladesh Detailed Feasibility Report) was on track.

"The third leg is fertilisers, where we are looking at setting up a fertiliser plant," he said. Expressing his commitment to Bangladesh, he said: "We looked at the steel plant. We looked at the power plant. It imports all its finished steel. We will now be able to feed Bangladesh from within."