ET reported that TATA Group may use a large tract of land in suburban Mumbai as a sales and marketing hub for the conglomerate’s manufacturing operations. The land may also be used to house some of the group’s retail operations.

People familiar with the development the plan to develop the over 20 acre land at Borivali, a western suburb in Mumbai is part of an earlier proposal to use under utilized land that various group companies own across India.

The salt to telecom group is understood to be looking at two options the proposed marketing hub linked to its manufacturing activities and retail for the Borivali land, which once housed TATA Steel’s wire making division. Most of the operations at the wire division have been shifted to a location at Boisar near Tarapur and work on developing the land would be initiated once the entire transfer is complete.

A TATA Steel spokesperson confirmed that the company has initiated work on shifting its manufacturing operations from Borivali. The spokesman added that “We have started shifting part of our operations to Boisar and part to Jamshedpur under a restructuring program for the wire division. We haven’t yet taken a decision on what to do with the land there. At the moment, non-manufacturing departments such as finance and purchases of the wire division will continue to be housed there in Borivali.”

Under the proposal, TATA Steel which owns the land could consolidate various sales and marketing offices that are currently spread across 15 different locations in Mumbai under a single roof.

As the size of the land is large, the TATA group is also planning to rope in its retail unit, Trent, to build commercial properties for its popular chains Westside, Croma, Landmark and Star Bazaar. As the land is at a prime location next to the Western Express Highway Trent would benefit from such an exercise.

(Sourced from Economic Times)