Tatas Gear Up For Isp Foray

Tata Sons executive directors R Gopalakrishnan and Ishaat Hussain, Tata Industries managing director Kishore Chauker and TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai have taken over as directors on the board of the group's new venture, ISP India Ltd, which holds an Internet service provider licence.

Top Tata officials refused to comment on the group's Net plans. "We are not prepared to go to the press with our plans at this stage," they said.

ISP India is a Tata Industries subsidiary, though the shareholding structure is yet to be finalised. Several other group companies are expected to pick up equity in the new company.

 

Earlier, Tata Industries' Chauker had said the equity base of the new company would be pegged at Rs 20 crore to 25 crore initially.

ISP India will be a service as well as content provider on the lines of Satyam, and is finalising details of several portals that it proposes to launch.

It is expected to co-ordinate with other group companies providing Net-based services to ensure that there is no duplication. The group is planning to buy out a string of regional Internet service providers and emerge as the largest business-to-business e-commerce platform in the country.

The Tata group is on the lookout for a chief executive officer for the new venture. It is also scouting for other recruits for the start-up, which is expected to become operational by next month with the launch of its first portal.