June 28, 2009, marked Jaguar Land Rover's official entry to the fast-growing Indian car market by the opening of a flagship showroom facility at Ceejay House in Mumbai by Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Motors at the time.

It was only a year ago that Tata Motors had bought JLR from Ford for US$ 2.3 billion (around Rs 9,200 crore then) but since then, it had suffered its first annual loss in eight years and had to make job cuts JLR factories. Tata Motors aimed to steer JLR through the financial crisis by banking on wealthy Indians wanting to buy into the prestigious British brand.

Ratan Tata had commented on the occasion, “We are extremely pleased and proud to introduce the Jaguar Land Rover brands in the Indian market and give the discerning Indian customer direct access to these prestigious brands, accompanied by a parts and service network. We hope that they will delight customers in India just as they have done in markets the world over.”

David Smith, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover at the time, had also highlighted the importance of the growing Indian economy: "Jaguar Land Rover is delighted to have officially opened our first showroom in India.  It is an exciting time to be entering the Indian market, a country with increasing affluence and an economy which is still growing.  We believe that the Indian market holds significant growth potential in the long term, and we hope to tap the demand for premium vehicles from discerning customers."

JLR entered the Indian market with five models – the Jaguar XK and XF models, Land Rover Discovery 3, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.

L-R: Mike O'Driscoll, MD, Jaguar; Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors; David Smith, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, Phil Pophama, MD, Land Rover and Ravi Kant, vice chairman, Tata Motors at the launch of JLR's first showroom on June 28, 2009 in Mumbai.

Current JLR India portfolio and network

Seven years down the line, JLR India has 23 dealerships throughout the country with plans to add three more showrooms by the end of the year. The company locally manufactures the Jaguar XF, XJ, and XE models at its Pune plant. Its stable also includes the Jaguar F-Type apart from Land Rover’s Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Discovery 4, new Discovery Sport/ 2016 and Range Rover Evoque.

Meanwhile, for Tata Motors, strong growth in volumes for its British luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover helped it triple its consolidated net profit in the quarter ended March 2016 to Rs 1,716.5 crore, while net sales grew 18.76% to Rs 79,926.8 crore. JLR’s net profit rose 56.29% to 472 million pounds (Rs 4,629 crore) while net sales increased 13.18% to 6,594 million pounds (Rs 64,681 crore). The profits included a one-time gain of 58 million pounds (Rs 555 crore) on account of insurance claims related to the losses due to the Tianjin blasts in China.

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