Tatas Set To Exit Haldia Petro

The Tata group is finally exiting from the embattled Haldia Petrochemicals through the sale of its 14 per cent-odd stake to the West Bengal government, one of the promoters of the project.

Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said at the annual general meeting of Tata Engineering today in Mumbai, "We have had a long exchange with the West Bengal government. They have confirmed to buy our stake out in the company. The time for purchase is now. We are in touch with them to make the actual payments."

Tata Engineering has so far invested around Rs 90 crore in Haldia Petrochemicals, after making some fresh investments in the company during the course of 2001-02.

The group has been on the lookout to exit Haldia Petrochemicals, which is into a business area which is completely unrelated to the group, for a few years now. Also, with HPL falling into a debt trap, the Tatas have not been paid any dividend so far on its investments.

The petrochemicals company is now looking at getting strategic investors to tide over its financial crunch. Recently, Indian Oil Corporation was looking at taking over the company from The Chatterjee Group, but has since pulled out.

Now the state-owned Gas Authority of India is keen on buying about 10 per cent in Haldia Petrochem.