ABSTRACT
The current wave of globalisation is being driven by international firms attracted to large and expanding markets in the unsaturated regions of the world economy. Globalisation is restructuring global investment patterns, a fact consistently ignored in most of the recent literature on the subject. Some impression of the sheer pace and scope of restructuring can be got by looking at Brooke Bond, which has been Unilever's bridgehead into the Indian food industry. To attract a larger share of global investment flows, the government abandoned the key provision of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) and allowed direct foreign investment with 51 per cent or more equity in high priority industries. ITC now operates in seven main areas of business and is said to be working on a restructuring plan involving a series of mergers and demergers which will redefine the core businesses and make it 'the strongest agri-products company in the subcontinent, with focus on tobacco, oilseeds and edible oils.
