India''s largest industrial conglomerate, the Tata Group, expects to earn nearly 60 per cent of its revenue this year from its overseas operations. This huge jump, from 38 per cent last year, follows the acquisition of Corus Steel in the UK.

Tata Sons executive director Alan Rosling says the Group''s turnover is expected to increase to $50 billion from $29 billion last year. Talking to the media at a India-UK conference in London, Rosling said the UK contributes 15 per cent of the Tata Group''s overseas revenues, and the country has overtaken the US as the group''s largest overseas market.

The Tata Group established its first office in the UK 100 years ago. It now has 18 companies operating in the UK, including TCS, Tata Tea (Tetley), Tata Chemicals (Brunner Mond), Tata Motors and Indian Hotels, which owns the Taj group of hotels.

Responding to a question on the group''s large overseas investments, chairman Ratan Tata said the Group has been making large investments in India, too, but the overseas deals are talked about more. He said the group wants to improve its brand visibility in the UK, not only as a commercial enterprise but as a corporate citizen.

Asked about the possible change of name of Corus Steel in this context, Tata said the process of integration of the company with Tata Steel is on. He said a change of name may be considered in due course.

When it comes to private enterprise, Tata declared, the environment in the UK is completely free as there is no interference from the government in M&A deals. "We did not meet a single politician in the UK before we decided to bid for Corus," he said, pointing out that it is not the case in all countries.

The India-UK conference was attended by a trade delegation led by Lord Digby Jones, the UK minister of state for trade and investment. In his keynote address, Lord Digby Jones said there were 20 Indian companies with full listing on the London Stock Exchange, with a combined market capitalisation of just under £2 billion ($4 billion). That, he declared, was more than the market capitalisation of all Indian companies on both the NASDAQ and the NYSE combined.

On its part, the UK is the third biggest foreign investor in India. The country''s investment in India is at an all-time, thanks to Vodafone''s recent £5.5-billion ($11 billion) investment in Hutch.