Still time for action on Cours
TATA Steel are regarded as honourable dealers in India.
Their business decisions are based on balance sheets not sentiment, but the Tata family, whose empire extends across metals, cars, hotels and soon construction, are fundamentally Fabian - radical left of centre thinkers who use their projects to cascade wealth down the social orders.
As a result, they are well liked - both by their employees in the company-built steel town of Jamshepur and by the Indian government, which dislikes and positively discourages foreign direct investment, preferring to create a positive environment for its own, homegrown companies to thrive.
Possibly because the founder of the business, Jamsetji Tata, was among the first of the post-colonial generation to build a business free of the yoke of British rule, the family is fiercely jealous of its commercial independence.
Which is why they took offence the last time Gordon Brown put his hand in his pocket over Jaguar Land Rover.
The British Government was quick to come forward with a public and very substantial offer of guarantees, which would have allowed Tata to borrow more than £300m last year to prevent large scale redundancies at its car factory in the Midlands.
But the deal fell apart when it attempted to attach what Tata regarded as neutering conditions - including a place for a bureaucrat on the board and the right to choose a chairman. The episode led to frustration on both sides, which is perhaps why Tata is not as enthusiastic as many would like it to be over No 10 playing midwife to a new deal for steel.
Gordon Brown is said to like Ratan Tata, the head of the empire, with whom he spoke on several occasions at the height of the Jaguar talks, when, like today, it was felt the PM was the only person with enough clout to break the impasse.
Ratan Tata respects Gordon Brown, describing him as “a very sincere person”.
He also has high regard for Britain’s manufacturing skills - although he has said the British Government doesn’t appear to care much for its manufacturing base.
And, at the end of the day, Tata is a very shrewd businessman.
He admits the company paid over the odds for its two crown jewels - Corus steel and Jaguar - both of which have weighed heavily on the balance sheet since 2007. But that hasn’t curbed its appetite for UK expansion.
It is even now looking to create a specialist steel construction firm with Corus, it is already moving into wind turbine manufacture, and, of course, it is likely to need a European base for its Nano car production.
So there is much the Government could offer Tata if it finds the right words to ask.
It was prepared to step in over Jaguar Land Rover because it could see there was “a viable company with good, long-term prospects” behind the short-term recessionary crisis.
The same case could, and no doubt is, being made by unions and local management, for TCP.
It’s just a question of how determined the Government is prepared to be and, at this late hour, if Tata is still prepared to listen.
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