Tatas just to get in the airline business: Ratan Tata

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. Reuters

"It's a bit like telecom. It was developed by many operators some of them in financial problems. I would hesitate to go in the sector today in the sense that the chances are that you would have a lot of competition that would be unhealthy competition. "

Asked if he worried about "cut throat" competition, Tata responded in the negative was but went on to say, "cut throat competition which is done to you is devastating competition.

"Overseas people go bankrupt or companies go bankrupt. They never operate here they sick and still continue. Then they are active to kill you. "

When the Tata Group chief was asked about the veracity of the story that someone had asked him to pay Rs 15 crore as bribe to erase the Tata-SIA deal, he said, the story was correct but it was not the Minister than civil aviation who had asked him to pay directly.

It was a businessman who "told me why don't you pay. This is what the Minister wants to ", he said.

What was the Tata response to the businessman?

"I told him that you don't understand. That's not how we do business. Everything he said to me was, ' Look if you want the airline this is what you should pay. You know the Minister wants — Rs 15 crore. "

Tata recalled that after the takeover as Chairman in 1991, he had drawn up a strategic plan which he had seen aerospace and defence a new area for the private sector in a big way.

"For several years, the fact that we are different types of sanctions had on us, gave us no access to technology and that in itself was a challenge."

But that challenge was never thrown to the private sector that was a "bit of a disappointment for me," he said.

Vested interests in the public sector and government laboratories do not not of these areas to the private sector. Therefore, while these areas have opened up, involvement of the private sector is still very limited, he said.

PTI

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