Tata Sons

The Tata Group had revenues of about $62.5 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, and operates in sectors including software, steel, energy, automobiles, hospitality, and consumer products. Founded by Jamsetji Tata in the mid 19th Century, the group's 27 publicly listed enterprises have a combined market capitalisation of some $60 billion and a shareholder base of 3.2 million, the group's website said.

Its top companies include Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Motors, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, and Tata Power.

Tata Group was leading corporate India's overseas expansion, having notched up the country's biggest foreign takeover with its $13 billion deal to buy Corus in 2007, and putting Indian industry on the map with the Nano car project. The global financial meltdown has hurt the Tata Group by making it more difficult to refinance short-term loans taken out by Tata Motors for the Jaguar/Land Rover deal.

Plans to raise 41.5 billion rupees ($825 million) via two rights issues in October to repay the loans were hit by a stock market slump, with company founders raising their stake to 42 percent from 33 percent as they covered most of the issue.

That month, Tata Motors also said it was rethinking its plans to raise $600 million overseas due to falling markets, and was also reviewing its expansion plans due to softening demand.

In November, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, wrote to the heads of group companies, telling them to finalise all pending loan and funding agreements, even if it meant accepting higher interest rates, and put the conglomerate's acquisition plans on hold.

The launch of the Nano, greeted with a rapturous welcome at the Delhi autoshow in January, has been pushed into 2009 after Tata Motors shifted production to Gujarat state in October.

Violent protests by farmers unhappy with the compensation for their land had forced Tata Motors to stop work on the factory in West Bengal state where it planned to build the Nano, which at 100,000 rupees ($2,000) is slated to be the world's cheapest car.

At least 183 people were killed in India's financial capital after Pakistani terrorists struck two of Mumbai's best-known luxury hotels, including the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the flagship of Tata Group's Indian Hotels Co Ltd.

"The Mumbai attacks add to these adverse conditions. No company can emerge unscathed out of this," said Rishi Sahay of consultancy firm IndusView Advisors. "But the Tata Group will come out it after some time. The kind of balance sheet they have is difficult to underestimate. They have an excellent brand name and they always manage to pull out some miracle from their hat."

Indian Hotels has said it will restore the heritage hotel. "We will rebuild every inch that has been damaged in this attack and bring back the Taj to its full glory," said R.K. Krishna Kumar, vice chairman of Indian Hotels.

Reuters

By Sumeet Chatterjee

The original article described the Pakistani terrorists as "militants", which I have changed and linked to my earlier blog post.

In terms of market capitalization of the Tata Group companies, TCS is the largest, followed by Tata Steel, Tata Power and Tata Motors. Retail investors own nearly a quarter of the various listed Tata group companies. There are also unlisted companies like Tata Industries and Tata Sky.



The Tata Groups holding company is Tata Sons, which is also unlisted. Tata Sons holds major stakes in the Tata group companies and in the unlisted companies under its ownership. Tata Sons is one of the the most closely held and highly valued companies in India.