NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, November 6, 2009

Kochi, Nov. 5

The Tatas are giving a global perspective to their successful affordable housing model, which was launched in Mumbai. Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, said that Tata Housing has got enquiries for replicating the Mumbai housing model from other countries and is likely to start out from Maldives.

Enquiries have come from various other States and the affordable housing model would soon be extended to Kolkata, Bangalore and Assam.

He said there exists tremendous potential at the bottom of the pyramid for new and innovative products in developing countries. The group companies would pursue new products targeted at the segment.

The free fall in demand for steel in global markets wasover, but it would still take couple of years for the pre-2007 demand to manifest, he said. The worst of times for Corus Steel might be over but it was still difficult days ahead. A team from Jaguar-Land Rover had visited India to assess the viability of sourcing components from India.

The viability and technological capabilities would be assessed before a decision on buying components is taken.