Tata Motors loss widens to Rs 4,415 crore in September quarter

Auto major Tata Motors reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 4,415.5 crore for the quarter ended September (Q2FY22) owing to the dual impact of semiconductor shortage and high input prices. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 314 crore in the year-ago period (Q2FY21) and Rs 4,451 crore in the June quarter, respectively.

The Mumbai-headquartered firm’s revenue from operations rose 14 per cent to Rs 61,378 crore in the reporting period against Rs 53,530 crore last year. It said demand remains strong for JLR and India passenger vehicles, while that for commercial vehicles is improving gradually.

Semiconductor issues and commodity inflation will continue to impact the firm in the near term. “The performance is expected to improve gradually starting in H2 as both the supply chain and the pandemic situation improve,” the automaker said.

While there has been an improvement in India operations, JLR was impacted by the semiconductor shortage, said Group Chief Financial Officer P B Balaji, adding that he expects the issue to last longer than originally anticipated.

Tata Motors said the waiting time period for vehicles is around six to eight weeks, while for electric vehicles it is running up to six months.

“The customer is not willing to wait beyond 30 days and anything beyond that means that we are disappointing the customer, but this situation is completely out of our hands. We don’t expect any issues with demand but on the supply side,” he said, adding that capex spend stands at Rs 3,500 crore for FY22. The company has a current global order book of 125,000 vehicles.

Retail sales at JLR, which accounts for most of Tata Motors’ revenue, were down 18.4 per cent from a year earlier as the semiconductor shortages hurt production. Still, revenue rose 14.7 per cent to Rs 61,379 crore in Q2.

Compared to that, Tata Motors India operations showed significant improvement. The PV business continued its turnaround journey and strengthened its double-digit market share with a decade high quarterly.