"India Inc. is making its presence felt abroad. In one of the biggest acquisitions by an Indian corporate abroad, the Tata group firm Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (Tata Steel) has acquired Singapore steel firm NatSteel for Rs 1,313 crore ($ 288 million) in an all cash transaction,” reported The Indian Express of August 17, 2004. This is the Tata group’s third major overseas takeover after the Tetley Tea and Daewoo truck unit buyouts.
Tata Motors (formerly The Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Limited) had acquired the truck making arm of Korea’s failed auto maker Daewoo for US $ 102 million some months ago.
Back on track after the travails of the 1990s, Tata Motors has listed its securities for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The homegrown automobile maker is the first Indian engineering and the second Tata group firm (after VSNL) to tap the overseas capital market, reported The Economic Times of September 28. "It is a great privilege for us to be listed on the NYSE and we hope it will provide our overseas investors with greater opportunities to enhance their interest in the company,” group chairman Ratan Tata said after ringing the opening bell at the bourse.
The Tata group is looking at new geographies, including Australia and China, to proactively grow its global industrial reach, while still keeping the common man’s interest at heart by working on the production of the ‘people’s car’ costing under one lakh rupees and rolling out its Smart Basics (economy or budget segment) hotels under the brand name "indiOne” with the launch of its 100-room hotel at Whitefield in Bangalore recently.