Ratan Tata in Calcutta on Saturday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Dec. 10: The Tata group will give priority to Bengal as an investment destination. The group, which is present in software, tea and steel sectors in the state, is now looking at setting up an automobile or auto ancillary unit here.

Addressing the consular corps business seminar in Calcutta today, group supremo Ratan Tata said Bengal has emerged as a business-friendly state and the Tatas would look at an auto unit while expanding its steel business in Kharagpur.

?We are looking at Bengal for the possible unit. It will take about six months to decide on it,? Tata told The Telegraph.

The group will donate a cancer hospital and research centre to the state, he added.

Lauding Bengal?s progress in growth and development, Tata, who is also the chairman of the investment commission set up by the Centre, said the present environment was highly conducive to business.

?Bengal is on the threshold of a remarkable growth and it is now up to the business community to take note of it,? Tata added.

Telecom business

The group expects to turn its two loss-making telecom ventures profitable in two years. It wants telecom to rake in revenue in the near future.

Tata Sons director J.J. Irani said the group would invest Rs 5,000 crore in the next three years to expand its network and increase customer base.

This is over and above Rs 5,000 crore that the company had already invested in the field. It includes buying the government?s stake in VSNL.

The group has three telecom ventures ? VSNL, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Tata Teleservice (Maharashtra) Ltd.

While VSNL is making profit, the other two companies are in the red. ?Hopefully, they will be profitable in two years,? Irani said.

Describing its stake in Idea Cellular ? the GSM mobile player ? as mere investment, he said the group intends to focus on the CDMA platform where TTSL and TTML operate. It plans to merge these two companies when their financial strength improves.

?We are adding 1 million customers every other month,? Irani said.

VSNL stake

The ?golden share? clause is coming in the way of an amicable settlement between the Tatas and the government over the latter?s residual stake in VSNL.

The clause says the government would have a veto power in all the board decisions if it holds one share in the company that provides international long distance telephony. ?This goes against any global corporate practice,? Irani said.