Telco becomes Tata Motors
By Our Corporate Bureau | 22 Jul 2003
Mumbai: Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd (Telco) will be renamed Tata Motors Ltd, according to a resolution to that effect approved by the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting here.
Telco chairman Ratan Tata, addressing the shareholders about the change of name, said: "Engineering per se is not our business; it is a capability that we have." The project to make a small 'People's Car' may take four to five years' time to yield result. "I am not saying we would succeed, but we could give it a very good try," he said.
The company's plan to raise Rs 500 crore through the issue of securities, an enabling resolution for which was passed at the meeting, could be in the form of foreign currency convertible bonds. Details are yet to be firmed up, but Telco executive director Praveen Kadle said the company should be undertaking the exercise in the next 30-60 days, or even earlier.
The money raised will be used to repay high-cost debt and augment capital expenditure; the company already has saved Rs 27 crore on interest during the quarter ended 30 June 2003. The current fiscal's capital expenditure is pegged at Rs 500-600 crore.