Why Indian companies are setting their sights on western rivals
February 7, 2007:
When the board of Suzlon Energy meets outsiders, it is not immediately obvious that the company is Indian-owned. Alongside Tulsi Tanti, the chairman, can be found executives from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, North America and Australia – the result of overseas purchases that have turned the group into the world’s fifth largest maker of wind turbines. “Each division of the company is led by a local chief executive officer and is managed there,” says Mr Tanti, an entrepreneur from India’s mercantile Gujarat state who is the force behind the group that last year paid $521m for Hansen Transmissions International, a Belgian gearbox maker. Suzlon is typical of an emerging breed of aggressive Indian companies led by Tata Steel, which last week agreed the $13.1bn purchase of Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, in India’s biggest foreign takeover yet. Forged in India’s harsh business environment, these groups are seeking to secure the best of both worlds – access to the lucrative markets of the developed world by owning companies in Europe and the US, while maintaining their low-cost bases in India. The Tata Steel/Corus deal may be the first Indian overseas acquisition to have seized world attention but it is by no means an isolated incident. “Acquisitions have been made by Indian companies all along,” says Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata group.
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