It may turn out to be India's Lehman moment; the Tata group may be seen as "too big to fall"; but its fall may be around. And this may put to severe test the ability of the NaMo administration in creating free and fair business opportunities The Tata Group, India's largest corporate group, with over 100 companies, is bleeding on account od debt payment because of Tata Steel's overseas foray in Britain. It wants to sell its UK steel business, which came as part of the $12.9 billion acquisition by Tata Steel of Corus in 2007. Tata Steel had invested over $ 2 billion as capital expenditure in its UK steel business and it has now written down the value of its investment of $2.9 billion, meaning the value of its UK steel business is almost zero. The company's consolidated debt was $10.7 billion on September 30, 2015, with the total long-term debt of its Europe business at about $4.3 billion. How it's going to sort out its balance sheet and pay up the huge debts it has piled up remains to be seen. On April 21, the UK government said it is willing to buy a 25% stake in the firm's other UK steel assets and partly nationalise them. The proposed restructuring, however, is unlikely to help it to cut Tata Steel India's-the parent company-massive consolidated debt of Rs71,798 crore ($10.8 billion). Tata Steel India's standalone debt is Rs25,332 crore as of September 2016. The company also has huge pension fund liabilities to consider in Europe. Set aside its British operations, back in India, Tata Steel isn't doing particularly well either. For the three months ended Dec.31, 2015, the company posted a loss of Rs2,127 crore. Its ability to pay interest was one of the lowest in the steel industry, a Credit Suisse report said. Now, even with the sale of assets in the UK, the debt trouble isn't likely to abate quickly. On April 14, Standard & Poor's said the sale of the long products business-Tata Steel sold it to Greybull Capital for nominal GBP 1-will only bring down cash losses. "We do not expect the sale to lower the debt at Tata Steel because the sale is agreed at a nominal valuation. Moreover, we believe the transfer of debt to the buyer is unlikely," S&P said in a report. In a note on April 18, India Ratings and Research, a unit of Fitch Ratings also said that the Greybull deal isn't likely to mean any direct reduction debt, although it'll help Tata Steel to "lower cash burn." Then, there are the pension funds. The GBP 15 billion British Steel Pension Scheme, a part of Tata Steel UK, has 130,000 members and will not be taken over by the new buyer. This means the liability stays with Tata Steel. The pensions can be sold to an insurance company but that will need additional fund infusion of at least GBP 3.5 billion by Tata Steel. The other option is for the parent company to guarantee the liabilities. Here is what an April 20 report by brokerage firm IIFL said about the pension fund liability: Note that Greybull Capital has not taken over the pension funds associated with this business. Further sale of the UK businesses might be on similar terms. This could leave Tata Steel in the UK with no assets but pension funds. Gains from the asset sale depend critically on how the pension funds are dealt with. Pension fund deficit has increased to GBP 485 million at the end of the 2015 financial year. Exit from pension fund might not be easy since Tata might have to contribute about GBP 3.5 billion to sell fund to professional managers and the fund might not meet the criteria for takeover by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Regaining profitability will remain an uphill task for Indian steelmakers, according to Credit Suisse. The brokera