Thursday, March 16 2006 15:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Dismissing speculation that they have decided to sell off their stake in Tata Steel, the Birlas today(Mar 16,2006) said there was no such plan 'at the moment.'

Birla family patriarch Basant Kumar Birla told sources here that there was no plan to sell off the group's holding in Tata Steel now.

"Entirely wrong," was the curt response by Birla when his attention was drawn to media reports which stated the Birla group had decided to sell their stake in Tata Steel in the wake of the stand-off with the Tatas over holding in Idea Cellular.

Eighty-six-year-old Birla, who heads the B K Birla group of companies, also said the Birlas' holding in Tata Steel is with Pilani Investments, one of the oldest Birla companies which has holdings in most of the Birla group companies and is also headed by him.

Birla, who along with his grandson, Kumarmangalam Birla, only last year consolidated his holding in Pilani, was categorical that there was no plan to exit from Tata Steel.

"At the moment we do not have any intention of selling our stake in Tata Steel," he said.

Birla, however, could not say what the exact holding of the group in Tata Steel was, but it was learnt that Birlas have around 41 lakh shares valued at around Rs 200 crore.

The Birlas holding in Tata company is part of the 4.93 per cent (2.72 crore shares) held in the steel giant by private corporate bodies.