Tata Motors to invest Rs 43,000 crore in products and technologies in FY25

Analysts expect JLR margins to remain stable

Mumbai-based auto major Tata Motors will be investing Rs 43,000 crore for products and technologies in 2024-25. This will slightly exceed Rs 41,200 crore investments in FY24.

The British arm, Jaguar Land Rover, is expected to garner the lion's share of around Rs 35,000 crore. In FY24, the investment in JLR was around Rs 33,000 crore, while Tata Motors was around Rs 8000 crore.

In FY25, JLR investments would increase by about 6 per cent, while Tata Motors would be flat, PB Balaji, Group CFO, Tata Motors told reporters after the earnings.

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He added that JLR investments see an uptick as product plans are coming together. He said the investment is "all about products and technologies" for JLR and Tata Motors. JLR will launch the Range Rover BEV and the Defender Octa in the market this year.

Sharekhan analysts said, "Capex is expected to be at £3.5 billion in FY25. JLR is expected to be net debt-free in FY25 as compared to the current net debt of £0.7 billion, despite the planned capex of £3.3 billion. With the reversal of working capital benefits JLR may see free cash at breakeven level in Q1FY25." 

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JLR's net debt reduced to £732 million from £1.57 billion in the October-December quarter. The Indian auto operations are now net debt-free, with expectations for consolidated (auto) level net debt to achieve the same status in FY25.

Motilal Oswal analysts said: "We expect JLR margins to remain stable over FY24-26, given rising cost pressure as it invests in demand generation, normalising mix, and EV ramp up, which is likely to be margin dilutive." 

Analysts expect the India PV business to see some boost with upcoming launches like Curvv (SUV) in the later part of this year and Sierra next year.