India's Tata Steel aims to rationalise Europe ops

MUMBAI Aug 27 (Reuters) - India's Tata Steel Ltd (TISC.BO) aims to rationalise operations in Europe and optimise cost effectiveness, its chairman said on Thursday, after the company posted a surprise consolidated loss in the June quarter.

Ratan Tata told the company shareholders the quarterly loss reflected a continued squeeze in demand in the United States and Europe.

Tata Steel earlier said its consolidated April-June net loss after minority interest and share of profits of associates was 22.09 billion rupees ($452 million) compared with a profit of 39.01 billion rupees a year earlier. [ID:nBMA005686] ($1=48.9 rupees) (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by John Mair)