Tata Motors Body Solutions posts third straight year of losses, increases focus on EVs

Tata Motors Body Solutions Ltd., a part of Mumbai-based Tata Motors, reported a net loss of Rs 24.88 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2023. This is the third consecutive year that the company has reported a loss.

Revenues for the year increased 87.8% to Rs 784.80 crore, but this was not enough to offset the company's costs.

In comparison, Tata Motors Body Solutions sustained a net loss of close to Rs 91.98 crore on operating revenues of Rs 413.71 crore during fiscal year 2022. This is higher than the fiscal year 2021 net loss of over Rs 90.25 crore on operating revenues of Rs 263.31 crore. The company last made profits during fiscal year 2020, when it logged a net profit of Rs 20.63 crore on operating revenues of Rs 643.40 crore.

The continued losses have brought down the net worth of the company to about Rs 9.28 crore in fiscal year 2023 from Rs 141.08 crore in fiscal year 2020, the data suggests.

Tata Motors Body Solutions, engaged in the business of manufacturing motor bodies for buses, tipper trucks, mobile dispensing units, and spare parts, witnessed its sales increase by 46% during FY23 to 11,609 units (Buses: 10,851 units, Other FBV: 758 units) from 7957 units (Buses: 4,126 bus units, and Other FBV: 3,831 units) the previous year, according to data from Tofler, a business intelligence firm. The bus bodies are built on chassis received mainly from Tata Motors Limited and then sold mainly to Tata Motors Limited as fully built motor vehicles.

On the plus side, the company asserts that the reporting year's focus was on developing future skills, notably in the construction of EV bus bodies. This, together with the enhancement of existing competences, resulted in the induction of 79 white collar professionals with diverse talents and experiences, whose skill sets supported the organisation's priorities in addition to the execution of numerous new projects. 

 The company was earlier a 66:34 joint venture (JV) between Tata Motors Limited (TML) of India and Marcopolo S.A. of Brazil. On August 29, 2022, the JV partner, Marcopolo S.A., handed their whole stake in the company to Tata Motors. With this move, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) of Tata Motors. As a result of the transfer, the company's name was changed to Tata Motors Body Solutions Limited, with effect from December 30, 2022. It has manufacturing facilities in Dharwad, in the state of Karnataka, and Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. 

With the commercial vehicle segment, particularly buses, continuing to see an increase in demand, the way forward for Tata Motors Body Solutions now apparently looks better. The expenditures, on the other hand, will have to be closely monitored