Tata Sons invested close to ₹10,000 crore in its subsidiaries and associates in FY24, a significant portion of it going into companies such as Tata Projects, Tata Autocomp Systems, Tata Electronics, Agratas Energy Storage and some others such as Tata Realty, Tata Capital and Panatone Finvest, its annual report for that year showed.

Investments in its joint ventures Tata AIA Life Insurance and Tata Play also saw an increase from year ago. All the companies mentioned above are unlisted.

With the exception of Wistron, which makes iPhones for Apple, most of the companies that Tata has invested over the last 4-5 years are still in the red, including Tata Digital and Air India.

Investments

At the end of March 2024, Tata Sons’ total investments in the unlisted equity shares of its subsidiaries, associates and joint venture rose 16 per cent to ₹70,732.5 crore.

In its review of the year, the holding entity of the Tata group said that it has invested in its new and existing businesses “based on their requirement for capital, for growth and the deleveraging their balance sheets.” It said it was investing to leverage the India growth opportunity and in industries with potential that were driven by global energy transition, creation of resilient supply chains and artificial intelligence and data-led transformation of businesses.

Tata Electronics was the first Indian company to make premium smartphones and high precision components at scale in India, and it is setting up the country’s first semiconductor fab in Gujarat and the first semiconductor assembly and test facility in Assam.

Agratas is creating critical manufacturing capability and capacity to promote new energy in automotive industry. It is setting up manufacturing plants in India and UK. The company has announced plans to set up a 40 GWh gigafactory in UK and 20 GWh plant in Sanand.

Loss Making

Tata Digital runs the super app Tata Neu, and has platforms such as Tata 1 mg, bigbasket, Tata Cliq, Croma and Tata Play. In FY24 it reported a loss of ₹1,200 crore on turnover of ₹420 crore.

Online pharmacy Tata 1mg Healthcare Solutions reported a loss of ₹339 crore.

Airline Air India, whose merger with Vistara will be effective in November, posted a loss of ₹4,444 crore last fiscal year. Tata Electronics reported a loss of ₹1,022 crore.

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