Tata, the 155-year-old conglomerate, is preparing for future demands: N Chandrasekaran

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Tata Group is transitioning into green businesses, semiconductor manufacturing, and mobile phone part production to prepare for future demands, said Chairman N Chandrasekaran in an interview with the Financial Times. This move includes Tata Steel's decision to close blast furnaces at its UK unit, resulting in 2,500 job cuts as the company shifts to green steel-making.

Chandrasekaran stressed the necessity of these steps, stating, «However painful...these are transitions that need to be done.» Tata Steel has incurred a loss of 5 billion pounds on the UK business since acquiring it in 2007 as part of the Corus Group.

Leaning towards sustainable practices, Chandrasekaran has been steering Tata Group towards electric vehicles and renewable energy while managing debt and profitability. He advised the CEOs of various Tata entities to focus on financial fitness, saying, “every company has to be focused on financial fitness… don't worry about growth, fix the fitness. Performance will come."

Despite efforts, Chandrasekaran is not fully satisfied with the group's digital product sales progress and the pace of integrating brands into a single app, Tata Neu. He noted, «could have been faster.»

Looking ahead, Chandrasekaran aims for Air India to become more competitive domestically within a year and internationally by 2026, indicating supply chain issues have affected aircraft deliveries but also highlighting that losses in the airline business have decreased.