According to sources, it is a 50:50 equity joint venture between Tata International and Graziella with the aim of acting together in manufacturing, packaging and selling footwear in the international market.Graziella is promoted by the Dante group of Italy and operates in India through its base in Chennai. This follows a part of the strategy of Tata International, to operate through tie-ups and joint ventures to expand business in footwear, garments, articles and finished leather in Europe , USA and China.

Tata International is in the process of restructuring its overseas operations, with the objective of integrating international operations. It is also a move towards transforming the company into a global trading major, instead of just being a group export arm.

To this effect, the company, has formed a joint venture company in South Africa called `Consilience Technologies', for providing software development services in South Africa and other neighbouring countries. Consilience Technologies is a joint venture with a local partner, Jay and Jayandra which holds around 66 per cent, while the rest lies with the Tatas.

Tata International also looks forward to marketing of products and services of the group companies in South East Asian and Saarc countries, where it has strong presence and the group companies are not present. As a thrust on the bulk commodity business, the company has formed a 100 per cent subsidiary - Tata Australia - to import coal for all the holding companies of the group. The company also plans to undergo restructuring through integration of the international operations around the globe.

In order to enter the electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) solutions, Tata International has formed a 50:50 joint venture company - SITEL India - with SITEL Corporation. This company will provide web- enabled contact centre services in India.

As a vision, Tata International is striving towards a billion dollar shareholder value, enhancing international company by 2004. This will be achieved by aggressively pursuing and offering quality products and services in the world market, sourced from most of the competitive regions through strong international network and infrastructure.