Tata Investment Corporation Limited was promoted by Tata Sons Ltd., in 1937, under the name The Investment Corporation of India Limited. The Company remained a closely held company till 1959, when it became one of the few publicly held investment companies listed on the Stock Exchange, Mumbai. During the 1960s and 1970s the Company’s activities underwent a gradual transformation from assisting in the establishment of new ventures, to acting as an investment company with a diversified portfolio of investments.

The original inspiration for launching Tata Investment Corporation Limited (TICL) was to help set up and nurture small and medium-sized enterprenuers and their companies. For many years after its inception, the Company played a role of a catalyst in promoting long term investments in the country and was instrumental in the promotion of projects with new Indian entrepreneurs and foreign collaborators whilst simultaneously taking minority equity stakes in such new projects. This promotional role of TICL resulted in the formation of many companies which were well known a few decades ago such as, Associated Bearing Co Ltd. (now SKF Bearings (India) Ltd.), Ceat Tyres Ltd. (now Ceat Ltd), National Rayon Corporation, companies promoted by the Ghia family and others, some of which are even today listed on the stock exchange.

IIn the earlier years, TICL also had a subsidiary company by the name of Investor Machine Tools Ltd. whose plant located near Pune was subsequently taken over by Tata Motors Ltd. (which was then known as Telco) for building up the machine tools division.

Apart from growing its own investment activities, TICL also expanded inorganically by merging the investment activities of Investa Ltd., Varuna Investments Ltd. (investment subsidiary of Tata Chemical Ltd.) and Bambino Investments Ltd. (an investment subsidiary of Tata Tea Ltd.).

TICL has an exemplary dividend record having declared dividend every year since inception, barring the first year - i.e. for the last 72 years. In the last 3 years TICL has declared 150% dividend. TICL can thus rightly claim to be one of the largest widely-held investment companies in India.

The Company became a subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd. in February, 2008. Tata Sons, together with other Tata companies, holds approximately 70% of the paid-up capital of Tata Investment Corporation Limited. as on 31th March, 2010.

The Company is managed by a well qualified Board of Directors, Chaired by Mr Noel Tata and Mr F. N. Subedar as Vice Chairmen, with knowledge and expertise in the field of finance, investment, administration and management, and is supported by an experienced team of professional managers.

Tata Investment has been rated by CRISIL since 1994, and has been assigned their highest rating of ‘AAA’ (pronounced triple A) representing highest safety in payment of interest and principal amount, which rating has been re-affirmed from year to year and is valid to date.

Tata Investment jointly with Tata Sons were among the first companies to receive an in-principle approval to incorporate, and become the sponsors of the Tata Mutual Fund.

TICL co-promoted TATA Asset Management Company Ltd. with TATA Sons Ltd. in 1994. TATA Sons holds 68% while TICL holds 32% of TATA AMC Ltd.  Tata Asset Management (TAM) is one of the first fund management companies in the Indian private sector. The company's principal activity is to act as investment manager to the Tata Mutual Funds. It has a client base of over 1 million people. The total assets under management of TATA AMC are Rs.22,000 croresas on 31st May 2010 in the domestic market.

TAM offers a range of innovative investment solutions to facilitate wealth creation for its investors. The company manages funds across the entire risk-return continuum. These include equity funds, balanced funds and debt funds.

BUSINESS OPERATIONS:

Tata Investment is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India under the category Investment Company.

The Company’s activities comprises primarily of investing in long term investments in equity shares, listed and unlisted, and equity related securities of companies in a wide range of industries.   The major sources of income of the Company  consist of dividend income and profit on sale of investments.  Over the years, through a gradual and judicious portfolio management Tata Investment has built up a portfolio of investments which had a book value of over Rs.1305.52 crores with an approximate market value of Rs.3638.07 crores as at  31st March, 2010 spread over 197 companies in various industries.