Tatas earmark Rs 1.2 lakh cr for domestic market

After committing billions of rupees in the overseas market, Tata Group is going on a growth overdrive in the domestic market, earmarking Rs 1.2 lakh crore for investments in the next 7-8 years.

"I don't think we have neglected the domestic market...the boat must go where the tide is and we are investing in both, wherever it makes strategic and economic sense," Tata Sons' Executive Director R Gopalakrishnan told PTI in Mumbai.

Tata group is already a Rs 1 lakh crore company in India and has now embarked upon an investment of additional Rs 1.2 lakh crore (Rs 1.2 trillion), the major focus of which will be on steel, power, auto and chemicals.

The group was said to be focusing more on its growth in the overseas market after it acquired Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus for $12.9 billion.

Apart from Corus, the group had acquired among others, Tetley, Daewoo, coal mines in Indonesia and a clutch of hotels abroad in the last few years. The Tatas would be investing as much as Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in steel, Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in power, Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) in auto and Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in chemicals, Gopalakrishnan said.

Another Rs 12,000-15,000 crore (Rs 120 to Rs 150 billion) has been set aside

for business segments like IT, hospitality, retail and telecom, he added.

Bangladesh foray:  Far from abandoning its $3 billion investment plan in Bangladesh, the Tata Group said on Thursday it would pursue the steel, power and fertiliser projects after polls to elect a new government in that country.

"We have not abandoned the project. We have spent money which means we are serious about Bangladesh,"  Gopalakrishnan told PTI.

"We had developed the project with serious intent. If we were not serious, then we would not have made a proposal...we have even posted our people there (Bangladesh)," he said.

Tata's investment plans, first submitted in 2005, never took off owing to delay in clearances and government's reluctance to offer various concessions.

"We are ready with our plans but a matching readiness in Bangladesh... must also be there," Gopalakrishnan said.

Describing the group's plan as 'long-term investments,' he said there may be a few delays here and there.

"Some projects get delayed, some aborted, while some go through with a little delay".

The Tatas' plan for setting up a steel, fertiliser and a 1,000 MW gas-based power plant in Bangladesh would mark the single largest foreign investment in that country.