By Sethuraman N R and Aditi Shah
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Tata Motors said on Wednesday it expects profit and cash flow to bounce back in the second half thanks to healthy demand for its Jaguar Land Rover cars and a drop in domestic steel costs.
Automakers are reaping the benefits of raising prices, a surge in demand for passenger vehicles after the pandemic and easing costs of key raw material steel.
“We are seeing continued increase in demand side at JLR,” Chief Financial Officer PB Balaji said in a post-earnings call. The order book is strong owing to the new Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport and Defender vehicles, he added.
Wholesale trading volume of passenger vehicles surged 69% year-on-year to 142,755 vehicles, while Jaguar Land Rover wholesale volumes – excluding its joint venture in China – jumped 17.6% to 75,307 units, although below expectations because of chip shortages.
The China market is not a stress right now for JLR and the company is focusing on getting supplies in place, Balaji said.
Tata Motors, India’s third-largest carmaker, has doubled its market share in passenger vehicles to about 14% over the past two years, according to data from Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations.
(Graphic: Tata Motor’s woes – https://graphics.reuters.com/TATAMOTORS-RESULTS/jnpwygnodpw/chart.png)
The company reported a consolidated net loss of 9.45 billion Indian rupees ($115.95 million) for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of 44.42 billion rupees a year ago, it said in an exchange filing.
Total revenue from operations rose nearly 30% to 796.11 billion rupees.
($1 = 81.5000 Indian rupees)
($1 = 0.8739 pounds)
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Devika Syamnath)
