Not many buyout opportunities in India: Tata Steel

Asserting that the steel maker has substantial investment plans in India, Tata Steel has said, however, there are not many acquisition opportunities here.

Tata Steel's Chief Financial Officer Koushik Chatterjee said India remained the base for the company's future growth and substantial investment plans were currently being pursued.

"...Meeting our growth goals through organic means in India, unfortunately, is not the fastest approach, especially for large capital projects, due to significant delays on various fronts," Chatterjee told the McKinsey Quarterly in an interview.

McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of global management consultancy McKinsey & Company.

"Nor are there many opportunities for growth through acquisitions in India, particularly in sectors like steel, where the value to be captured is limited — for example, in terms of technology, product profiles, the product mix, and good management," he noted.

Tata Steel snapped up Anglo-Dutch entity Corus for over $12 billion in 2007, creating one of the largest steel makers in the world.

About buyouts, Chatterjee said Tata Steel views acquisition more as a partnership.

"From a mindset perspective, we quite genuinely tend to look at an acquisition as a partnership rather than an acquisition... We don't send plane loads of people into a new company. Instead, we only send in a few integrators. That's been the key interface," he said.

Regarding the financial crisis impacting Tata Steel's business, Chatterjee said Europe has been worst affected, while the company is increasing production base for steel in India.

At Tata Steel Europe, there have been significant production cuts.

Stressing that the Indian mindset has "significant empathy", Chatterjee said, "the inclusiveness of the Indian mindset helps in building a global business".