Under Ratan, Tata has metamorphosed from the lumbering giant of the eighties to a shifty Goliath. This is not the Tata that created the temples of modern India. This is a Tata bent on sucking every ounce of blood from hapless Indians who do not even realize about the crime being perpetrated on them.
One of the ways the Tatas can make sure that the combined outfit is a lot more profitable than Corus has been is by exporting semi finished steel from India and processing that in Europe. The Tatas have leased some of the most profitable iron ore mines anywhere in the world in the state of Orissa and in all likelihood Orissa would continue to feed this gluttony.
In the last three to four years, iron ore (not finished steel) prices have almost quintupled, but the royalty that Orissa gets has gone up by only 12%. The Tatas make about 1500 Rs. per tonne of iron ore where as the state makes only Rs. 27.5. Recently, when the state government woke up to the situation and began demanding its fair share, it was met with resistance from all possible quarters. Ostensibly, the invisible hand of the Tatas is at play. They do not want Posco to set shop in Orissa; hence they get the commies and the ramshackle Orissa opposition to incite the Adivasis of Kalinganagar to clash with the police, which resulted in 11 deaths. They also do not want the state to export iron ore on its own. They can do all this and more because they can practically buy their way through the system.
In the globalized economy of the 21st century, the Tatas are indistinguishable from the Reliances or the US oil companies for that matter. The motto is to profit by every means. The motto is to colonize by every means. Human beings are just the means of feeding this unholy matrix.
The last great act of magnanimity by the Tatas is half a century old. You may enumerate some philanthropic acts dating back to mid of last century, but Tata under Ratan is no longer the Tata under JRD.
