Dhaka, January 22:

Talks between the Bangladesh government and India’s Tata Group have been deferred until February 6, further delaying a final agreement on commissioning of four proposed projects worth $3 billion.

The Bangladesh board of investment has proposed the fresh date for the concluding round of negotiations, citing ‘preoccupation’ of officials from both sides, a government official said. Tata has proposed to set up steel, fertiliser and power plants besides developing a coal mine, making it the single largest foreign direct investment so far in Bangladesh. The talks were also postponed due to the fact that neither Tata nor Bangladesh have co-mpleted prerequisites.