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On the face of it the terrorists struck in hotels at the heart of India’s business capital because they simply wanted to kill as many westerners as possible. But targeting the Taj Mahal Palace, an hotel owned by the Tata Group, had a deeper symbolism.

In recent years Tata has been in the vanguard of a process of reverse colonisation, buying and investing heavily in western markets, especially Britain, as the Indian tiger prowls hungrily into the global jungle.

On July 7 2005 I stepped out of the air-conditioned sanctuary of the splendid lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel into the tropical soup of the Bombay summer. I wiped my steamed-up glasses and read a text message that broke the news of the terrorist attacks in London.

A few hours later I interviewed Ratan Tata, head of the Tata Group. A frequent visitor to Britain and keen to put down deeper business roots, he was full of sympathy for the attack on India’s old colonial master.

Now, as India reels from its own Islamic militant outrage, it is easy to see how those twisted towards terror would see Mr Tata’s massive Tata Group as the perfect target.

The Taj Mahal Palace looks out over the Arabian Sea towards the West and Mr Tata spends a lot of time looking the same way.

A shy man, who lives modestly, Tata was educated and lived in America before returning to rescue and transform an ailing family behemoth. He was a founding member, with Bill Gates, of Gordon Brown’s International Business Advisory Council.

A huge and ubiquitous force in India, the House of Tata is the largest conglomerate and involved in everything from steel and car manufacture to retail, IT and business outsourcing. In recent years it started expanding overseas.

In Britain it bought Tetley, the country’s leading tea bag brand, in a $432 million deal that was regarded as a delicious irony in a country that had seen the imperial “Tea Rush” in the 19th century. At the time it was the biggest foreign acquisition by an Indian company.

Now Tata owns three other famous British brand names, Jaguar, Land Rover and Corus (formerly British Steel). This week the Tata Steel division endowed a professorship in metallurgy at Cambridge University.

Tonight, as he worked to secure the safe release of employees at his famous hotel, Ratan Tata strongly condemned the “wanton” terrorist attacks and urged his country to stay united.

“We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such heinous acts will only make us stronger. It is important that we do not allow divisive forces to weaken us. We need to overcome these forces as one strong unified nation,” he said in a statement.

“We cannot replace the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying events of last night. But we must stand together shoulder-to-shoulder as citizens of India and rebuild what has been destroyed.”

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