Tata Group to reduce its listed firms to around 15

From 29 to an estimated 15, the Tata Group is planning to bring down the number of its listed companies, as part of Chairman N Chandrasekaran’s stated plan of transforming the country’s oldest conglomerate to make it future ready.

With $128 billion revenue and $255 billion market cap, the group is hastening its simplification and synergising strategy to better focus on growth and scale and improve cash flows in the larger companies.

With the reduction in the number of listed companies, Tatas will focus on investing in fewer but bigger entities that are capable of competing in the marketplace. Apart from the 29 listed companies, the Tata Group currently has nearly five dozen unlisted ones and hundreds of subsidiaries in 10 sectors.

One of the officials said, “The move is long overdue and needless overheads and costs in the system will be eliminated. Several such small entities were created and listed with some specific needs at that point of time. Today, scale and cost optimization will help efficient deployment of capital and resources.”