Calcutta, Feb. 11: City-based shoe-major Bata India Ltd is believed to be shifting its corporate headquarters to Gurgaon from Calcutta. It is expected to join a long list of companies that have trooped out of Bengal since the early eighties, fed up with labour trouble and lack of growth opportunities.

In recent times, major companies like Philips India, Infar India and Shaw Wallace have moved out of the state.

The shoe major is believed to be in talks with the Haryana government for the acquisition of a land to house its new corporate office.

Bata’s move to get out of the city has come as a major blow to the state government at a time when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is trying to hard-sell the state at home and abroad.

M. J. Z. Mowla, official spokesperson for the company, refused to reply to a fax sent to him in this regard.

Later, P. K. Nag, director (finance), said: “We have taken the decision to shift our product development, merchandising and retail operations. But I cannot comment whether the corporate headquarters will be shifted. I can only say that the registered office of Bata will remain in Calcutta.”

Apart from these three departments, Bata has taken the decision to shift its exports, production planning, product development and wholesale departments to Delhi. However, officials say that there is no immediate plan to relocate the operations of Batanagar.

Bata has a 68-year-long relationship with Bengal. The company first established its base in India in 1931 and started manufacturing shoes in Batanagar in 1936. At that time, Bata Shoe Organisation was headquartered in the Czechoslovak town of Zlin, the residence of Thomas Bata, the founder of the organisation. The company went public in 1973 and changed its name to Bata India Limited. It now sells over 60 million pairs a year in India and overseas markets such as the US, the UK, Europe, West Asia and the Far East.

Sources said that the move to shift the corporate headquarters from Calcutta to Gurgaon has been discussed by the Bata top-brass for quite some now.

Bata has not been able to explain how the move will help the company in the long run. It has only said that Delhi is the “happening market” and so the company is shifting a portion of its operations there. The top brass feels that the move will help boost its financial health.

Bata India has been reeling under losses for the last two years. In the nine-month period ended September 30, 2003, the company suffered a loss of Rs 11.7 crore. In 2002, it had suffered a net loss of Rs 7.4 crore.

Corporate mavens wonder whether Bata will once again shift its operations to Calcutta if the city becomes a ‘happening place’ two years down the line. “Productivity is not the reason for shifting. The militant trade unionism that once prevailed at Bata is no longer there. The workers are more responsible these days,” said an official of the company.

The 87-year-old Thomas J. Bata had met the representatives of Bata Mazdoor Union (BMU) in November 2001 and sought their assistance to take the Batanagar factory ahead. This was a major step towards restoring harmonious industrial relations, which had soured in 1998 after managing director Keith Weston was manhandled by a section of the workers.

In the last few years, Bata has been facing fierce competition from regional players. The unorganised sector has created a major problem. To tide over the situation, Bata had changed its marketing strategy, but the effort did not work.

The other problem, insiders say, is placing expatriates in top positions to run operations. “This also did not work. Now, it has drawn up plans to shift the corporate headquarters to Gurgaon,” insiders say.

The BMU has already written to Bhattacharjee, alerting him about the company’s move to shift out of Bengal.

Senior officials of the state commerce and industry department said the government was trying to keep Bata. “But the state cannot stop any company from shifting its headquarters. It can only request,” they added.