Dubai, UAE; July 8, 2025As Indian corporates mature, time has come for them to expand globally either organically or through mergers and acquisition of global businesses. However, they need to have global vision and be risk takers, Ravi Kant, former CEO and Vice-Chairman of Tata Motors, told members of the Dubai Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), at a gathering organised to observe the 77th Chartered Accountants’ Day.“We are in a cyclic global economic environment where ups and downs are part of the cycle. While things are down in India, it could be up in other economies. So, we looked at the global economy with an open mind for opportunities,” Ravi Kant told a packed audience. “We went to South Korea with an open mind to bid for Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co with a US$75 million offer.”Tata was one of the bidders that the South Koreans didn’t want to be acquired by. They wanted to be acquired by Europeans, rather than Indians.“We asked them why? They said the Europeans will provide better technology to help Daewoo grow business. The Indian company can’t do that,” Ravi Kant recalled. “That taught us a lesson – to understand what others think and why they think like that. This forced us to think like them and change our strategy, in order to work with them. We then got involved with Daewoo team and tried to go deeper into their work culture and technology. After six weeks, the Daewoo management said, they want to be acquired by Tata Motors only.”He said, the experience in acquisition of Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co. gave Tata Motors a template for future acquisition. “So, when the opportunity to bid for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) came, we were more than ready. There were ten bidders and we won the bid, took over for US$2.3 billion and invested our resources to turn around the company to become profitable again,” he said
Indian companies need global vision, Ravi Kant tells ICAI members how Ratan Tata led from the back in JLR acquisition
