Tata chief to stay on, eyes software IPO

Business legend Ratan Tata is planning to steer India’s second-largest conglomerate for at least three more years and is gearing up to float his most valuable business. India’s largest software services firm, Tata Consulting Services (TCS), is expected to complete a prospectus within six weeks but a possible stock offering won’t take place until the end of the year, said Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, adding he has not yet taken a final decision to float the company.

An initial public offering could value Tata Consulting at $7 billion, more than the $6 billion value of Tata’s 29 listed companies. The float of a 10-per cent stake —the minimum under Indian rules — would rival the $690 million issue by larger conglomerate Reliance in 1993 as the nation’s biggest deal ever.

Ratan, who at 65 still puts in at least 50 hours of annual flying in his MD-902 helicopter and two Falcon jets, said he would actively run the group for at least three more years and not name a successor until that time.

Tata, a member of Mumbai’s small but influential Parsi community, said he wants to create a more streamlined and cohesive group. The aim is to cut Tata’s 80-odd companies to about 35 and pull half of the 29 listed companies from the stock market before he retires in December 2007, he said. “We’re moving companies in the same business together and selling off some of the companies,” Tata said in an interview at the group’s stately 1930s headquarters in Mumbai. “As we’ve been here for (so many) years, there is a lot of resistance to this.”