Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has assured British MPs that there were no plans to farm out work in Jaguar-Land Rover to India or to retrench employees at the research bases in the West Midlands.

Speaking to MPs from the West Midlands in the House of Commons during his recent visit, Tata said jobs at the research centres at Whitley and Gaydon were secure at least until 2012.

A fresh business plan is expected to be drawn up for the company in 2012.

Coventry South MP Jim Cunningham told reporters after the meeting that Tata indicated the possibility of employing more workers at the two centres.

Cunningham asked Tata if the firm had any plans to uproot the company to India or to scale down the workforce.

"Mr Tata confirmed that there were not plans to move any of the UK plants and that no redundancies were planned. Instead, they will be increasing the workforce in the research areas.

"What they may be doing -- and I don't want to exaggerate this, because they still haven't produced a business plan - is in certain areas, because they are impressed by skills, they will, for limited projects, employ more people.

"That means they will keep work in the Midlands rather than farming it out to India," Cunningham said.

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