Pendse said that the Tatas are on the verge of floating a subsidiary to undertake the travel-related forex business with a foreign tieup.

"We will choose a suitable foreign partner within the next 15 days and start the operations of the company by August 15," Pendse said, adding that the company is talking to a few domestic banks for setting up a larger network.

Currently, Rs 2,400-crore Tata Finance undertakes only forex advisory services. After finalising the layout of the new company, the Tatas will move the Reserve Bank of India for clearance to undertake the forex business. At the initial stage, the new company's activities will be quite similar to those of Thomas Cook.

The Tatas had conceived the idea ofsetting up a new outfit for travel-related business when they severed their relationship with Cox & Kings which was solely handling the travel business of the Taj group of hotels.

Since Indian Hotels will be another in-house partner for the new venture along with Tata Finance, the existing travel-related business of the Taj group of hotels will be channelled through the new company.

The Tata group of companies itself generates a huge amount of travel-related business which can be tapped by the new company.

The range of products which are being finalised for the new company include ticketing, travel insurance, pre-paid calling cards and gift cheques.

Tata Finance, which has a large network, has major exposure in commercial vehicles and construction equipment leasing. "We will try to bring about a greater synergy between the existing activities of Tata Finance and the new products of the proposed joint venture," Pendse said.