Tata Chemicals plans to quit cement business
Telegraph — September 19, 2002

Calcutta: Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL) has decided to exit the cement business either through a joint venture route or through a strategic sale of the entire division.

TCL managing director Prasad R. Menon said here today that the company is looking for a joint venture partner for its cement business and is also open for strategic sale. "But we have not received any proposal for the unit so far," he said.

"Cement is not our core business and so we decided to get out of it provided a suitable offer comes," he said.

The company recently underwent a massive restructuring in the cement division and is now directly marketing in Gujarat. Earlier, the company used to market cement made by ACC, which was another Tata firm.

Since ACC is no longer with the Tata group, TCL is left with no choice but to market its cement products itself. The cement plant, however is operating at almost full capacity.

About its fertiliser business, he said though a considerable portion of revenue came from the division, "we are waiting for the new long-term fertiliser policy to be announced by the government. Any plans for expansion will depend on the policy."

He further noted that the company believes this is a good business to be in, "but right now we do not have any plans as we would like to wait for the policy first."