Tata Sons chairman Chandrasekaran likely to consolidate businesses to get ahead in defence market

Tata Group is heading for a leaner, more consolidated future as the new Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran plans to bring different wings of loosely held conglomerate together, a report said. 

Poised by the upcoming opportunities in India's defence market, Chandrasekaran is reportedly looking to consolidate Tata Groups financial services businesses spanning corporate and retail lending to mutual funds and insurance besides creating a larger infrastructure vertical by bringing all the related companies under one umbrella. Some infrastructure businesses include Tata Realty and Infrastructure and consultant Tata Projects. 

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Tata's defence businesses are presently dispersed across multiple units. Thus, the consolidation exercise will first look at merging unlisted companies in related businesses under one umbrella and later repeat the similar exercise in the listed companies. 

Tata Group's standalone defence and aerospace businesses include Tata Advanced Systems, Tata Advanced Materials and Tata Industrial Services. The rest are part of companies such as Tata Power, Tata Motors, TAL Manufacturing Solutions, Tata Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Tata Elxsi and Titan.

Tata's defence businesses clocked in a revenue of Rs 2,650 crore in fiscal 2016, an increase of 7.5% from the year earlier. In the last five years, the group's revenue from defence and aerospace has grown at a CAGR of 18%. 

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