Tata says firms must survive on their own

The head of India's oldest and biggest conglomerate Tata Group says each of its nearly 100 companies will have to find its own way to survive the global financial crisis.
The group's 96 companies include India's largest outsourcing firm, Tata Consultancy Services, the world's sixth-largest steelmaker Tata Steel and Tata Motors, the country's top vehicle manufacturer.
"Those who will survive will survive, those which will not, will fail," Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata told India's NDTV Profit late Friday.
"Each company has to find its way of sustaining itself," he said in a wide-ranging interview.
The 141-year-old group would rationalise its operations, he said, without elaborating.
Tata called the global slump "probably the most difficult time most of us ever had in our lives."