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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (4695)	6/22/1999 2:41:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 12475

TATA: Indian group plans sweeping changes [Financial Times, London] tata.com June.22,99 By Krishna Guha in Bombay India's biggest business house, the Tata group, faces sweeping changes under a review being conducted by Ratan Tata, its chairman. The review could lead to the group - which comprises almost 300 companies - pulling out of more than half the sectors in which it operates to focus on core interests. Mr Tata told the Financial Times that Tata would concentrate on 14 or 15 sectors, down from about 40 today. "That is not an optimal number," he said, "but we would need to do things slowly. Going from 35 or 40 to 14 or 15 [sectors] in the Indian context is a major step." He said the group needed to be "leaner, meaner, more aggressive" following the liberalisation of India's economy. Mr Tata said the restructuring process would start when the business review was completed in 18 months. It would involve outright disposals as well as transfer of businesses within the Tata group, to create a lead company in each area of activity. Mr Tata said company clusters might be formed in certain industries. For example, in automobiles Tata Engineering and Locomotive (Telco) might be grouped with auto component companies in which it could have a stake. Mr Tata said he would not rule out Telco forming a joint venture for its small car, the Indica. "It is not something that if all the parameters are right Telco would not look at," he said. However India's accounting rules, which did not allow consolidated accounts, discouraged such a move, he said. The Tata group may also make selective acquisitions. Tata Tea is bidding for Tetley Tea of the UK, in what would be the biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian company.