Ratan Tata hosts reception for London Mayor

Mumbai, Nov 21 (UNI) Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata hosted a reception in honour of Mayor of London Ken Livingstone here tonight.

The Tata Group, one of India's best known and most profitable industrial groups, had revenues of 29 billion dollars last year, equivalent of about 3.2 per cent of the country's GDP.

The Group's international revenues in 2006-07 were 10.8 billion dollars, contributing to 38 per cent of the total Group revenues.

With over 300,000 employees across 96 operating companies, it is also India's largest employer in the private sector, a Tata release said here.

The release quoted the Mayor as saying ''Tatas have been in London for 100 years but in the last decade its presence has grown out of all recognition. If Londoners are only just getting to know Tata on its present scale, in the future it will be as much part of their landscape as IBM or Exxon. Tata owns the biggest tea company we drink from, Tetley. It has now integrated the steel industry in purchasing Corus and it is on the short list of bidders for Land Rover and Jaguar.'' ''Tata has said it faced no regulatory problems in purchasing Corus and this went even more smoothly than they had anticipated.

This is just the model we want for the relation of Indian companies to an open Britain. It is even more pleasant when it is a company with such a long ethical framework of Corporate Social Responsibility as Corus. Tata now means tens of thousands of jobs not only for Londoners but for Britain. I see Tata as one of the most important but only one of the first of the huge Indian corporate citizens of London. That, in turn, is vital in London maintaining its position as the leading international business centre of the world,'' he said.

Earlier, the Mayor and his delegation attended a business meeting with the Tatas. The meeting took place as part of the Mayor's official week-long visit to India, entitled ''London in India: Partners in Globalisation'', to promote London as a destination for business, tourism, studies and creative industries and to strengthen relationships between London and India, the release added.

UNI