(24 March 2009)

Ratan Tata, the boss of Jaguar Land Rover, has told Sky News that job cuts will be made unless the Government can guarantee £500m in loans to the company. Tata Motors bought the two iconic British auto brands - Jaguar and Land Rover - for $2.3 billion from Ford Motor Company in March 2008. However, the two marques posted losses of $12.6 billion in 2006 - the heaviest in its 103-year history - even before the recession.

Mr Tata said Jaguar was in need of urgent help or the company would face "devastating" results. He said the firm needed a multimillion pound loan guarantee otherwise its 15,000 UK workforce would be culled. Speaking exclusively to Sky in India, Mr Tata said the British Government appeared to regard manufacturing as "irrelevant".

"If funds are not available a company will not be able to run," he said. "So layoffs will take place, redundancies will take place or in some cases, as has already happened in the UK." Jaguar axed 450 jobs, including 300 managers, in January.

The firm is engaged in a stand-off with the Government over funding.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson says as a private company Jaguar must stand on its own two feet. He added: "There seems to be an impression that England is only a country with skills in the financial services sector and that manufacturing is irrelevant if you might. That is not so, there is a great deal of capability, a great deal of skills and of course many, many jobs."

The firm is based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, and has plants in Coventry, Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood on Merseyside. The car industry is in crisis at the moment because of the credit crunch with production falling at a record rate.

Factsheet on the Tata group
New Delhi, March 23 (IANS)

A factsheet on Tata group, India's largest industrial house founded by Jamsetji Tata in the mid-19th century, which Monday announced the commercial launch of their small car Nano:

Past titans: Jamsetji Tata, Sir Dorab Tata, Sir Ratan Tata, J.R.D. Tata, Naval Tata

Chief Executive: Ratan Naval Tata, 71

Headquarters: The landmark Bombay House in downtown Mumbai

Promoter companies: Tata Sons and Tata Industries

Shareholding: Majority of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family

Decision makers: The Group Corporate Centre comprises Ratan Naval Tata, N.A. Soonawala, J.J. Irani, R.K. Krishna Kumar, R. Gopalakrishnan, Ishaat Hussain, Kishor Chaukar, Arunkumar Gandhi and Alan Rosling

Number of companies: 98, of which 27 are listed

Areas of interest: Seven business segments covering information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals

Group turnover: $62.5 billion in 2007-08

Market capitalisation: $60 billion

Shareholder base of listed companies: Around 3.2 million investors

Countries of operation: Over 80, spread over six continents

Employees: 350,000

Some global companies acquired: Tetley of Britain in 2004, Daewoo Commercial Vehicles of South Korea in 2004, Eight O'clock Coffee of US in 2006, Anglo-Dutch Corus in 2007, Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008

Some popular brands: Tetley (beverages), Tanishq (jewellery), Titan (watches), Voltas (cooling appliances), Rallis (agro-chemicals), Westside (garments), Tata Indicom (telecom), Taj Air (in-flight catering), Nelco (electronics)

Some brand ambassadors: Tennis ace Sania Mirza, cricketers Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan, Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan, and actors Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin Shah

Some major companies: Indian Hotels, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Coffee, Tata Motors, Titan, Rallis India, Voltas, Tata Chemicals, Tata Steel, CMC, Tata Communications, Tata Elxsi, Tata Power, Tata Investment, Tata Metaliks, Tayo Rolls, Tinplate, Trent, Tata Teleservices and Nelco