Concerns of corporate governance, high asset prices and regulatory curbs have tended to deter the group''s planned acquisitions in China earlier, he said on the sidelines of a business conference in Beijing.

Currently, group company Tata Steel operates finishing plants in China while Tata Motors sources automotive components there.

The Tata Group, following its $12.9 billion acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus by group company Tata Steel, is expected to earn more overseas than in India in the current fiscal year ending March 2008.

Corus is expected to account for 60 per cent of Tata Steel''s profit this year.

While the group wants to expand its presence in China and other overseas markets it also wants to strike a balance between hunting for deals and investing more in India, its core market.

Tata Steel, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chhattisgarh government in June 2005 to invest Rs10,000 crore to build a five-million-tonne per annum steel plant in two phases in the tribal Bastar district.

Tata Steel, meanwhile, has also signed an agreement with Vietnam Steel to explore the possibility of building a mill to produce cold-rolled steel in the Southeast Asian country. Once the project is approved, Tata Steel will have a 65-per cent stake in the state-owned mill.

Over the next few quarters, the company expects to see strong domestic demand fuelled by growth in infrastructure development and automobile sales, as well as a decline in exports from China. Domestic prices for the metal are likely to rise given the lack of adequate supplies in the country.

Tata Steel is keen to tap into new markets to meet the growing demand for steel. The booming outflows of capital from India have been dominated by privately-owned conglomerates such as the Tata Group.