Mumbai, April 14 -- In the next six months, if everything goes to plan, the Mumbai-based $365 billion Tata group may well get its first publicly traded financial services company.

In a newspaper advertisement last Monday, Tata Capital said that it has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to float its maiden public issue. The filing was made through the confidential route in which no details of the proposed issue are disclosed to the public.

Reports in newspapers suggested the public offer of shares could be worth Rs.15,000- Rs.18,000 crore, making it one of the largest in the financial services industry and only the third IPO of any Tata company in the last 25 years. The two other...