Tata's Big Cat Down

How Jaguar Land Rover went from contributing half of the Tata group’s profits to recording a huge loss. And whether it can turn around quickly.

- Sumant Banerji

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons would have hoped this year’s annual general meeting of India’s largest automobile manufacturer, Tata Motors, would pass off peacefully. Last year, Chandra, as he is better known, had to face the ire of the automaker’s shareholders who had been denied dividend due to the company’s deteriorating performance in the domestic market.

When Tata Motors finally closed its accounts for 2017/18, it had indeed done better — consolidated revenues and profits were up, and the domestic business was showing signs of revival with reduced losses.

But just three days before the AGM was scheduled, the investors’ mood had soured again. On July 31, Tata Motors announced the results for Q1 of 2018/19 – and they were horrendous. It reported a consolidated loss of Ì€ 1,863 crore. Jaguar Land Rover, or JLR, recorded a loss of £210 million (approximately ₹1,890 crore), wiping off the meagre gains from the improved performance of the domestic business (see United We Stand).