Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which completed the Corus deal earlier this year, is set to make "more multi-billion-dollar bets" for expanding its global presence.
NEW YORK: Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which completed the Corus deal earlier this year, is set to make "more multi-billion-dollar bets" for expanding its global presence, a media report said here on Thursday.
"Early in the new year, the conglomerate's auto-making arm, Tata Motors Ltd is likely to win its bid for Ford Motor Co's premium Jaguar and Land Rover brands at a cost of more than two billion dollars," the Wall Street Journal reported.
The next month, Tatas are also set to unveil the world's cheapest mass-produced passenger car, the report noted.
Besides, the group is also courting international luxury hotel chain Orient-Express Hotels Ltd, in which it has already accumulated a 11.5 per cent stake, the WSJ said.
However, as Tatas go ahead with these "multi-billion dollar bets to become one of the first globally recognized Indian brands," the growing economic concerns worldwide are also increasing the risks for "India's most prolific purchaser of international companies," the report said.
The daily noted that Tatas' big bets are being made at risky times and there was increasing concern that a major slump could occur in developed markets that are the key markets for Jaguar and Land Rover.
About the upcoming low-cost car, the report said that little was known about it, "other than that it will have four seats, good gas mileage and a modern look."
Quoting unnamed analysts, the report said that "it could take more than four years for the project to break even because of high development costs."
Tata Motors is likely to unveil the Rs one lakh car at Auto Expo in New Delhi on January 10, while the production would start later in 2008.
The WSJ report quoted Tata Sons Director and Indian Hotels Vice Chairman R K Krishna Kumar as saying that "companies involved in branded businesses can not remain restricted to India... The only survivors will be those that have a dominant brand they have built or acquired, and building it can be a high-risk proposition."
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