Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has said his conglomerate will expand its presence in Canada, hinting at mining as one of the areas of interest.
Currently, the group’s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has operations across Canada, with offices in Montreal, Calgary and Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area and presence in other cities.
The group acquired the Canadian overseas telecom corporation Teleglobe in 2005. Based in Montreal, it operates as a subsidiary of Tata’s Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited.
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The Tata group also has a stake in the mining company New Millennium Capital Corporation, based in Montreal.
Tata, who was in Canada Friday, said at a reception hosted by the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) that his group was looking at more opportunities for investment in various Canadian sectors.
Hinting at mining as one of the areas of interest, he said the group was also exploring possibilities in the areas of technology.
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Since mining areas in Canada fall in the freezing cold north, Tata joked: “When I spent years at Cornell (as a student), I decided never to go to a cold place, but here I am today (with freezing temperature in Toronto).”
He said his few hours’ visit was not the right time to make any judgements about Canadian sectors or companies his group will invest in. The task was not easy as Canadian companies were not as visible in India as US companies, he said.
But since his group already has presence in the Canadian market, he said: “We should do business here.”
Reiterating the group’s corporate philosophy, Tata said: “We will have more presence here. But it will not be intrusive. We would like to be the good corporate citizens that we have been.”