Rewiring for a Giant Leap

WHEN N. CHANDRASEKARAN took charge as chairman of Tata Sons in 2017, the passenger vehicles (PV) business of Tata Motors was staring into the abyss. Losses had ballooned to nearly ₹4,000 crore annually, market share had slipped below 5% and bankers whispered a single piece of advice: shut it down.

- BY NEVIN JOHN

Chandrasekaran, however, saw a different future.

His argument was simple: while market leader Maruti Suzuki commanded over 50% of the Indian car market, the second player, Hyundai, held less than 20%. The gap between 5% and 20%, he reasoned, was not insurmountable—especially for a company that had once dominated Indian roads with models like the Indica, the Sumo, the Estate, and the Safari. He was equally convinced that the industry's long-term destination was electric, as sustainability became a global rallying cry and pollution weighed heavily on Indian cities.

To fast-track this transition, he pulled together a crack team of 50 specialists drawn from across the Tata group—Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Power, Tata Elxsi, Tata Technologies, and Tata AutoComp—and stationed them in Sanand, Gujarat. He entrusted Shailesh Chandra, current MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, with the task of building India’s first credible electric car. At the same time, Chandrasekaran pushed for a group-wide collaboration to build the charging ecosystem.

The bet paid off. Tata Motors emerged as the country’s largest electric four-wheeler maker, offering the broadest mass-market portfolio: the Nexon.ev, the Tigor.ev, the Tiago.ev, the Xpres-T for fleet buyers, the Punch.ev, and the recently launched Curvv.ev. In FY25, the company sold 57,581 EVs according to VAHAN data—an 11% drop from the previous year. Consequently, its market share fell sharply from 70% to 53%. The management acknowledges the rising competition, particularly from Mahindra & Mahindra's newly launched XEV 9e and BE 6, and from JSW MG Motor, whose Windsor has become India's best-selling EV.