Two global acquisitions within a span of two years have catapulted Tata Chemicals to the second position in the global soda ash industry. The company's managing director Homi Khusrokhan played a key role in these acquisitions and the integration process.

Given the fact that commodity producers are vulnerable to commodity cycles, will you continue to remain a commodity player or move up to produce specialty products like global chemical majors?

Most global chemical majors are specialty producers and they invest large sums to develop new chemical entities to spur growth. That option was hotly debated in the company when we launched our globalisation drive five years ago. In 2005-06, we started our innovation programme by setting up an R&D centre to look at promising technologies in chemistry and a new range of products. We decided to focus on nano and biotechnologies, particularly the bio-nano interface.

Our bio-fuels project is an outshoot of this process. However, innovation is a long-term strategy and it will take time to reveal its benefits. Over a period of time, we want to move to more knowledge-intensive, less capital-intensive, less polluting, cleaner and green technologies. But in the interim, we have to appreciate that TCL is successful in the commodity business and it makes sense to consolidate its global position in that segment. Over the next 10 years, we'll look at new technologies and introduce a new range of products. Over a period of time, the face of TCL will change.

How have global acquisitions helped you to achieve your long-term vision?

Our global acquisitions were mainly to establish a meaningful global presence in the industries we are currently operating in, rather than to assist our long-term goal to move into new technologies or products. If you want to operate in the commodity business, you have to participate in global trade flows. You need to de-risk your business by operating in various countries, developing flexibility to serve global customers from cost-effective locations - these were the reasons for our acquisitions. Through our acquisitions, we have transformed from a small Gujarat-based synthetic soda ash player, catering to only the domestic market, into a global major with majority production coming from cheaper natural resources. Although we can't charge a premium in the commodity business due to lack of differentiation, our flexibility and competitiveness have increased due to access to low-cost raw material. We can now serve a particular set of customers more efficiently than others.

What has TCL brought to the table for the acquired companies?

Both the companies we acquired were previously run by private equity (PE) players. So, an acquisition by a chemicals company, which understands them and is ready to invest in them for a sustainable growth, is a good thing. We are actively investing to help these companies grow. For example, we invested in a sodium bicarbonate facility in Brunner Mond Europe, which will become operational in early 2009. So, we have created a totally new line of business for this group. Similarly, in Kenya we are looking at a major capacity expansion.