Tata still hopeful of investing in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Sep 3: Indian industrial giant Tata has merely suspended its three-billion-dollar investment proposals in Bangladesh, but has not altogether abandoned them, a top Tata executive said here today.

''Nothing has changed from our July statement with regard to our planned investment in Bangladesh,'' Deputy Managing Director Tata Steel (Corporate Services) A N Singh was quoted by UNB as saying.

The Tata group had decided to put on hold its mega-investment in Bangladesh in July, which included plans to set up a 2.4 million tonne steel plant. The group had cited the inordinate delay in processing its revised investment offer by the Bangladesh government as the main reason behind it.

Mr Singh said, ''We're hoping for the best as we believe there are business opportunities which we are scanning all the time.

Bangladesh offers a lot of potential and we will keep looking at those and continue discussions.'' He was in town in connection with signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) under which Tata will arrange training and coaching for Bangladeshi athletes and sportsmen.

He said the MoU on sports training cooperation has no relation to Tata's business pursuits. ''It's designed to foster friendly bonds between the people of Bangladesh and Jamshedpur.'' Asked about the status of Tata's investment plans in Bangladesh, he said, ''The situation has not changed. It remains where it was in July. We have told about it in our July statement.

There is no further development on this,'' Mr Singh said.

Tata had proposed a three billion dollar investment plan in steel, power, fertiliser and coal-mining in Bangladesh, but suspended the plan last July after months of negotiations.

UNI