Tata Motors’s desperate need for a steady hand at the wheel

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Editor's note: Looking for a good example of how someone can ruin a party? The goings on at Tata Motors Limited, India’s largest automobile company by revenue, fit the bill to a T. Just six months ago, everything looked hunky-dory as the company posted its highest ever profit in 10 quarters after a string of losses. On the back of a 67% surge in sales, the company reported a consolidated net profit of ₹2,906 crore for the fiscal third quarter ended December 2020. It’s passenger vehicles business, for long its Achilles’ heel, was finally showing signs of buoyancy and investors couldn’t have enough of its stock. The price of Tata Motors’s share doubled in just two months following the results, announced in January this year. Our story in February captured some of that mood. In the two quarters since, the company is back to posting heavy losses. It faces issues with regard to supply of crucial components, uncertainty on the pandemic front and inflation in commodity prices, all of which are expected to continue till at least the end of the year. …