Tata Motors lists on NYSE !!

IANS[ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 01:02:06 PM ] NEW YORK: Tata Sons chairman Ratan N Tata will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) here on Monday to mark the listing of group company Tata Motors on the world's largest bourse. The second-largest player in India's passenger car market with a 17.3 percent share, Tata Motors will be the second company in the Mumbai-headquartered diversified conglomerate's stable to list on the Wall Street exchange. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), formerly a state-run international telecom carrier now acquired by the Tata group, is already listed on the NYSE. The board of directors of Tata Motors in a meeting on July 28 had approved the proposal to list the company's outstanding global depositary receipts (GDRs) on the NYSE in the form of American depositary receipts (ADRs). But the company, which will be the first Indian company in the automobile and engineering sectors to list on the NYSE, does not propose to issue new shares or raise fresh capital as part of the NYSE listing. An NYSE statement said Tata Motors has its manufacturing units across India with plants at Jamshedpur, Pune and Lucknow. The company enjoys significant demand in export markets like Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. "The company's sales are growing by 29.7 per cent this fiscal with two of its four brands being among the top 10 selling models in the country," the statement added. The Tata Motors scrip was trading at around Rs 414 on Indian bourses Monday. It had seen a high of Rs. 570 on Feb. 18 this year and a low of Rs. 289 on Sep 26, 2003. The company will be eighth Indian firm to list on the Wall Street bourse. Apart from VSNL, Indian companies currently listed here include Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Satyam Computers and Wipro.