Tata Motors CFO Finds India's New EV Policy Not Suitable For JLR

Tata Motors CFO, PB Balaji has stated that the company’s British subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), is not planning to leverage India’s new electric vehicle (EV) policy in the immediate future.

What Happened: As per Balaji, the policy, which provides import duty concessions to companies setting up manufacturing units in India, is not suitable for the company, PTI said in a report.

“At this point in time that specific policy is not something that is suitable for us. So, we don’t intend to leverage it at this point in time,” said Balaji during an earnings conference. Balaji’s comments were in response to a query about JLR’s plans to utilise India’s new EV policy for future mass production of electric vehicles in the country.

The Indian government introduced the new EV policy in March this year, to attract major global players like Tesla. The policy allows these companies to import a limited number of cars at a reduced customs/import duty of 15% on vehicles costing $35,000 (around ₹29 lakh) and above for five years if they agree to invest substantially in the country.

See Also: Infosys Says Karnataka Government Withdraws GST Evasion Notice

However, Balaji did mention that JLR’s business in India is growing robustly. He also stated that the company will continue to explore opportunities for completely knocked down (CKD) manufacturing to reap the same benefits of 15% customs duty without taking on additional obligations.

Despite the company’s June quarter earnings being mostly in line with street estimates, its share price tanked on Friday morning. The Tata Group company reported a net profit of ₹5,566 crore for the quarter, a 73% increase from ₹3,203 crore in the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter stood at ₹1.08 lakh crore, marking a 6% rise from ₹1.02 lakh crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Read Next: Zomato Now Valued Higher Than IRFC, Tata Steel And Nestle As MCap Nears ₹2.5 Lakh Cr Mark