NEW DELHI : The Tata group, India's second largest business conglomerate by sales, has ruled out selling stakes in its telecoms flagship, Tata Teleservices Ltd., to foreign companies, a top group official said on Tuesday.
The group plans to invest about 25 billion rupees in the current fiscal year to March 2007 in its telecoms businesses, which include the unlisted Tata Teleservices Ltd., Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd. and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Ishaat Hussain, finance director at Tata Sons Ltd., the group's holding company, said.
The salt-to-software Tata conglomerate would also continue to seek ways to increase its stake in other group companies, such as Tata Tea Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd., to above 51 percent.
"Apart from Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Tele Maharashtra, our holdings are less than 50 percent and over a period of time, depending on various factors, we may decide to take it up," Hussain told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference.
The Tata group telecom firms operate under the common "Tata Indicom" brand, offering CDMA wireless and fixed-line services, and together had nearly 10 million users by June.
Over the past year, the group had been talking to carriers such as SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, to sell a substantial stake in Tata Teleservices, media reports said. But a deal failed to materialise.
India's wireless sector, the world's fastest growing major mobile market, has become a hunting ground for many western and Asian carriers who face near saturation in many of their established markets.
Firms such as Britain's Vodafone Group Plc., Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., and Malaysian operators Maxis Communications Bhd and Telekom Malaysia have already bought stakes in Indian firms.
Separately, Hussain said the group had not given up on its plans to invest $3 billion in neighbouring Bangladesh.
"Nothing is ever cast in stone in life. Discussions are always on. Certain positions have been stated. Let's see how things unfold," he said refering to the project which would be Bangladesh's largest-ever dose of foreign investment.
"Its in a pause stage. There is no timeframe. When the government actively engages then we will engage."
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