Depending on the technology requirements of the group, it may also givemajority stake to its partner, he added. According to Datta, these businesses are likely to include, seeds and metal products.

Significantly, the group is selling off Meltrak to the RPG-group during the current year. Further, the group has also spun off its seed business and may finally get out of it.

The group chief executive officer MV Subbiah said that the group in the current year would have brought down their businesses from 33 to 27 and ultimately 10-12 by the year 2005.

Subbiah said that the group has decided to concentrate on its core businesses areas related to agriculture whichinclude fertiliser and sugar.

In this area, the group has recently hiked its stake in Coromandel Fertiliser from 21 per cent to 63 per cent. The combined capacity of Coromandal Fertiliser and EID Parry is currently 4 lakh tonne per annum, which the group is planning to increase to 8.5 lakh tonne over the next 18 months. The group has earmarked Rs 38 crore for the entire process.