Tata Sons in strong financial position, says N Chandrasekaran

Mumbai: Tata Sons is in a strong financial position with adequate cash flows to support group companies and new growth initiatives, and is not looking to monetise investments to raise capital, chairman N Chandrasekaran said in a statement on Friday.He said Tata Group companies, like all others, are facing both challenges and opportunities arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic situation, given the markets they operate in. “All our group companies are progressing well, responding to these challenges and opportunities, and we are confident they will emerge stronger,” Chandrasekaran said, following a Tata Sons board meeting.ET had reported on June 4, citing sources, that the Tata Sons board would examine the possibility of fund raising by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and also the possibility of bringing outside investors into both the automobile and steel businesses. Chandrasekaran is understood to be looking at recalibrating the group business strategy for the post-Covid age, it had said. Executives close to the development had said that the focus would be to find a one-time solution for businesses such as Tata Steel Europe and JLR, which are facing a challenging business environment due to the Covid-19 crisis besides ensuring better capital allocation for futuristic businesses that offer better growth options.Investing Heavily in Flagship BusinessesGroup businesses and Covid-19 strategies were understood to have been discussed at the board meeting on Friday but specific details were unavailable.“There are recent misinformed and completely unfounded rumours regarding the Tata Group in some sections of the print/social media,” the statement said. “These are malicious in their intent to undermine the performance of the Tata Group and discredit the chairman emeritus, Ratan N Tata. The group is well poised to capture new opportunities.”Over the past three years, Tata Sons has infused Rs 20,000 crore of growth capital in group companies in the face of a challenging business environment.The group has been investing heavily in its flagship businesses of steel, vehicles and power. Between FY17 and FY19, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Power together invested Rs 74,000 crore in their businesses.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2AFuDXI