With the Tatas' buyback, the holdings of financial institutions and insurance companies in Indian Resort have been reduced to 13.97 per cent from the earlier 20.91 per cent. At present, non-resident shareholders hold 0.05 per cent and foreign institutional investors 0.26 per cent. The balance is held by the public.

In Indian Resort, the Tatas hold their stake through Tata Sons, Ewart Investments, Tata Investment Corporation, Tata Industries, Bambino Investment and Trading Company, the Indian Hotels Company and Taj Holdings. Indian Resort owns the Fort Aguada beach resort in Goa.

The Taj group of hotels, as part of its restructuring, has already decided to bring down the number of group hotel companies to around 28 from 54 over the next two years. In the first phase, the group intends to lower the number of hotels to 38 and during the second phase the number will finally come down to 28. It has set up several operating arms under Indian Hotels due to the complex nature of funding hotel projects.

The Taj group is India's largest hotel chain offering 56 hotels in 40 locations across South Asia and six hotels in other parts of the world. It operates in luxury, business and leisure categories. The luxury hotels division is the largest with a turnover of Rs 451 crore.

In the meantime, sources say the Indian Hotels group is looking for management contracts with hotels in Tunisia, which attracts an annual tourist traffic of 5 million. The move is part of the group's strategy to expand its global presence.