Tata Sons buys 7.3% of Praj Inds

Tata Sons, the holding company of country's second-biggest industrial group, bought 7.3 per cent of Praj Industries for Rs 340 crore ($86 million) to expand its business of making fuel from plants.

The founder of Praj Industries and his family sold 13.42 million shares to Tata Sons, Pune, western India-based Praj Industries said in an e-mailed statement today.

"In the larger interest of the shareholder, the founders sold their own stake instead of selling new shares," Vinati Moghe, spokeswoman for Praj Industries, said today by telephone from Pune.

Phone calls to Christabelle Noronha, a spokeswoman for Tata Sons, weren't answered.

Pramod Chaudhari, the chairman and founder of Praj Industries, owns 20 per cent after the sale.

Praj Industries rose Rs 2.15, or 0.8 per cent, to Rs 250.4 at 12:32 pm local time on the Bombay Stock Exchange.