When Ratan Tata raises his eyes across India’s borders, stock markets in New York, London, Mumbai and Tokyo tunes its ears: is it going to be another acquisition?
Under the guidance of this 73-year old bachelor, the Tata Group, India’s largest private corporate operating in 85 countries in six continents, has brought Corus steel and Jaguar and Land Rover.
But the visit of this recluse and media shy business baron to Bhutan almost went unnoticed in the international media apart from a press release carried by the local dailies.
Ratan Tata’s visit to Bhutan comes at a crucial time. The country is on a high-speed economic development trajectory and at the same time trying to position itself as the land of Gross National Happiness. Though still a top secret, Bhutan’s new Foreign Direct Investment Policy is believed to be very friendly.
In his short visit to Bhutan, Ratan Tata was accompanied by five officials and he has said he will send a team within two to three months to find avenues where Tata can invest in the field of information technology and development of skills. While Rata Tata claimed to experience a feeling of “great enlightenment” after his visit to Bhutan, the little he has said are very important.
“I hope hydropower is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. At a time when water for Bhutan is equated to oil for the Persian Gulf, the brain behind the world’s smallest car is thinking something big from this tiny country. When even Bhutanese believe that hydropower is the biggest economic possibility Bhutan could ever think of, Ratan Tata is telling us to look beyond our glacial-fed rivers. He is no stranger to the country’s hydropower dreams. Tata Power, India’s biggest private power firm, has a 26% stake in the 114 MW Dagachhu power project which is expected to commission its first unit in 2013.
Last December, the Indian Media quoted the Tata Power executive director for strategy and business development, Banmali Agrawala, as saying that the company is “definitely open to” setting up more plants in Bhutan. “But it depends on the pace at which the government there would want the private sector to come in,” he told the Press Trust of India. For Dagachhu, Tata Power partnered with the Druk Green Power Corporation. But interestingly, Ratan Tata has not echoed Banmali Agrawala’s statement. Instead he has said the Group is interested to increase its presence beyond hydropower.
He has woven dreams of investment avenues in organic farming, handicrafts, construction, consultancy services, information technology and much more.
What is he interested in then?
Is TajAir, India’s leading executive air charter service, and an arm of the Tata Group interested in the new domestic air service, which is expected to attract a lot of millionaire tourists? Is the Taj Hotels, belonging to the Group, planning to expand its services to Bhutan? Tata Tea, last year, increased its stake in Mount Everest Mineral Water with a 50.24%stake. Tata Group’s website quoted analysts as saying that the consolidation is to create one holding company with various divisions such as tea, coffee, water, juices and energy drinks. Is Bhutan’s clean water, and huge plantation possibilities an attraction enough? Or is Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited interested in an IT park – like its new Nu Rs 35b project in Chennai – along the Special Economic Zones the government is planning in the border towns?
The Tata Group has plans to launch worldwide a low-cost housing project. The ‘Smart, Value Homes’ are priced between Rs 390,000 and Rs 670,000. The Maldives has invited the Group to introduce the concept in the island nation. Affordable housing for the middle class is a growing problem in Bhutan. Is Tata interested in the vast possibilities?
Or is it something beyond hard cash. The group is increasingly involved in climate change and sustainability issues. The press release from the prime minister’s office quoted Ratan Tata as saying that he has “fallen in love with Bhutan.”
“We are very willing to participate, not necessarily to make money,” he said and the prime minister, Lyonchen Jigme Y. Thinley, has commented that “A country like Bhutan would be happy to be adopted by Tata.”
Popularity: 30% [?]
“Fallen in love with Bhutan”
It is the perfect clue. It could surprisingly mean a set of cleanest technologies application and not necessarily in conventional businesses like air transport or 5 star hotels. Things could be like these too
“Welcome TATA
17 February 2010
Mr Ratan Tata’s interest in Bhutan should be highly appreciated.
One important area that giant TATA could look into is ropeways/cable cars. Ropeways, where and for whom? Why? How?
Yes, ropeways from east to west and north to south. For Drukpas and for tourists who want some adventurously beautiful memories. To create jobs, utilize our own electricity, let forest cover develop in the areas that have been badly hit by landslides, open roads for Drukyul’s exotic organic products to reach the busy cities like Thimphu or Paro and also help market those products outside by bringing them to motorable areas.
If we can have paragliding in Drukyul’s tourism, we can certainly have ropeways/cable car.
We have to construct ropeways, train the local people to operate them, make it an everyday affair in the life of local people.
Small businesses will bloom in terms of far away small inns. Drukpas in the remotest villages can sell their produce to the ever-increasing bidders in the villages for fresh fruits and vegetables.Drukpa engineers can be trained for subsequent ropeways/cable car construction elsewhere. A generation will grow old connecting Drukyul with cable cars where roadways are difficult to construct and environmentally hazardous, and we sure will live up to the pillars of GNH in Drukyul with ropeways.
The next important sector that TATA could help Drukyul is in establishing tissue culture projects for some of Bhutan’s extremely valued orchids. It is in fact not a big investment. Once the manpower is trained, young entrepreneurs are sure to be seen in the market with an increasing export of pot orchids which can be straightaway flown to the developed countries with a minimum of $100 per pot which would have been matured for export with less than Nu 500.
The third project that TATA can help in is investing in the production of organic food and medicine. However, we do not want to let the cat out of bag at the moment but hint the government that Drukyul has a cluster of red powdery mushroom deep in the rocky little caves of some of the most difficult brooks in the country. It is extremely expensive and can be used in tea, soaps, cuts, bruises and a hundred other ailments as a perfect cure. We are not talking about cordyceps. We should not interfere in the lives of those authorized to pick it. However, climate controlled green houses should be made available to the community from the northern most districts of Drukyul in the adjoining valleys for a larger productivity.
Modernizing Drukyul’s motorcar workshops and training the youth for jobs beyond Druk market is another possibility.
City trains, east west railways, parking constructions, highly sophisticated landfill site construction are some of the possible areas that TATA could help Drukyul develop.
There is still another source of medicine in Bhutan called Silajit by the Indians. It is constantly brought down by only one very small stream in the country. The location, though not far from the highway, is almost accessible by our ordinary honey-hunting techniques because it faces either side with a terrifying gorge. We are not sure how much of it is there but if all the boulders and rocks in the area are to be broken with tiny hammers – it would come to some millions of truckloads.
Education is definitely the next field that TATA can invest in Drukyul. If the education city is to materialise, TATA and RUB should get into partnership to run the Green Technology studies.
Drukyul should not say no if a mega project with extreme coding and engineering for super software should begin in the country’s pristine environment. This is actually beginning in the west but success lies in the east as the codes are in the Himalayas. Sounds like a wild dream to us but our eyes will soon open.
Team EcomBhutam
http://www.ecombhutan.com
ecombhutan@yahoo.com