The giant Indian holding company Tata has offered to invest in Iran's mineral and tourism industries, Eghtesad News reported.
The proposal was made during a meeting between the head of Tata Consultancy Services, Anandbalaji Sundararaman, and Iran's deputy minister of industries, mines and trade, Mehdi Karbasian, in Tehran.
This is the second major Indian company wishing to invest in the domestic mineral sector in less than a week. Earlier, Indian giant steelmaker Essar said it would invest $2.37 billion in building a steel plant in Iran's southern Persian Gulf Special Economic, Industrial and Mining Zone.
"It is a good opportunity now to invest in Iran's industrial and economic sectors. I personally learned about the great opportunities after visiting the southern regions of the country, especially the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island," said Sundararaman.
Since many foreign enterprises have recently made proposals to take part in Iran's industrial and mining sectors, Tata should immediately present its plans for cooperation, said Karbasian, who is also the head of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.
The deputy minister said Iran has prepared the infrastructure in steel, coal, gold, chrome, lead and zinc sectors for foreign investment, adding that only in the northeastern Tabas region, as much as 2.5 billion tons of coal reserves are ready to be financed by foreigners.
According to Karbasian, cooperation in coal industry could lead to export of processed iron ore to India.
Founded in 1868, the Tata Group is a global enterprise headquartered in India. It is comprised of more than 100 operating companies with operations in more than 100 countries across the six continents, exporting products and services to over 150 countries. The company earned $103.27 billion in 2013-14, with 67.2% of this coming from businesses outside India. More than 581,000 people worldwide are employed by Tata and its subsidiaries.
