Tata group firms line up Rs 65,000 cr capex this fiscal

The majority of the investments will be by the group's top companies, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and TCS

Various firms of diversified Tata group have lined up capital expenditure of a total of over Rs 65,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal.

The capex is part of respective medium-term strategies of the different companies covering all the business sectors of the group, ranging from engineering, materials, information technology and communications, consumer products, services, energy to chemicals.

The majority of the investments will be by the group's top companies, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

While Tata Steel would have a capex of nearly Rs 16,500 crore in FY15, Tata Motors has earmarked around Rs 38,500 crore, out of which Rs 35,000 crore will be for its British arm JLR and Rs 3,500 crore for its operations in India.

The group's information technology major TCS has also outlined a capex of Rs 4,000 crore for this fiscal.

The spends are focused on already planned new products and services, as well as continuing development of new technologies and both for global and domestic operations.

When contacted, a spokesperson of Tata Sons -- the promoter of major operating Tata companies -- said capital expenditure plans of group firms "are available, wherever so declared, in their individual financial and business related announcements".

"Tata companies always take a long term view of business and make required investments, depending on the needs of the geography concerned and company imperatives, on new products and services, research and technology development, and establishment or expansion of facilities and business enablers. We are, in general, optimistic about emerging trends," the spokesperson added.

The group's other firms, including Tata Housing, Tata Communications and Titan have made public their capex plans for the ongoing fiscal.

Tata Housing, real estate firm, has said it planned plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal mostly on land acquisition, while Tata Communications has earmarked capex of around USD 250-300 million (nearly Rs 1,800 crore) for 2014-15.

In the beginning of the year, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry had written to the employees of the group that "to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive world, we shall put innovation capability at the core of each of our companies' operating structures and will invest in R&D".

He had also stressed on the need by the group companies to take into account their execution abilities while planning capex.

The Tata group has over 100 operating companies with operations in more than 100 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 150 countries.