Ratan Tata, chairman of India’s Tata conglomerate, might not have had any cheerleaders in the room when his company quietly signed a deal with Ford last week to buy the US carmaker’s UK-based luxury marques, Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3bn. But he did not need them.

The following morning, The Times of India, the country’s leading English language daily, ran an article bearing the headlines “Jaguar is now an Indian beast” and “Tatas rule Britannia.” It asked: “So what if the Queen of England still has the Kohinoor, the diamond and most famous jewel taken from India during colonial times? The Tatas now have Jaguar and Land Rover, the icons of British luxury.” Beyond the jingoism, even some serious commentators questioned what they called the Tata group’s apparent fascination with the former champions of British industry. First, the group bought Tetley, the tea brand, in 2000. Last year it acquired Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker that contains the old British Steel and now the car marques.