Why Tata Motors should divest Jaguar Land Rover

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Editor's note: The fiscal year 2022 was near magical for Tata Motors, India’s biggest automobile company and the No.1 manufacturer of electric cars. Its passenger vehicle business posted its best ever turnover in over a quarter century of operations, managing to wrest the third spot in terms of market share after nearly a decade. The commercial vehicle business, which saw its market share drop to 36% from 50% a decade ago, actually gained 5% during the year.  What stopped it from being magical was a small blot. The star of the company’s portfolio, the UK-headquartered Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which sells high-end sedans and sports utility vehicles, was bleeding money. For the fourth straight year, it sold half as many cars as five years ago and continued facing supply chain issues even as its biggest market, China, continued to be a laggard. In the end, though Tata Motors’s local business managed to cut its loss to Rs 1,391 crore (from Rs 2,395 crore the previous fiscal), its consolidated losses totted up to Rs 11,310 crore on account of JLR. In the last …