ADVERTISEMENT

What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business

Tata Group’s telecom business has a total debt of Rs 40,000 crore.

Commuters at a bus stop in front of a billboard advertisement for Tata DoCoMo in Chennai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Commuters at a bus stop in front of a billboard advertisement for Tata DoCoMo in Chennai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Rs 40,000 crore: that’s what Tata Group’s telecom business owes lenders as it reportedly plans to wind down wireless operations.

Parent Tata Sons Ltd.’s chairman N Chandrasekaran admitted in an interview to CNBC-TV18 that the mobile services business is “close to impossible for us to recover”. The remark came after the Economic Times reported that the group has informed the government that it plans to wind down wireless operations.

Tata Sons and Tata Teleservices did not respond to BloombergQuint’s emailed queries. Here’s what the numbers say about the health of the group’s telecom business…

Tata Group’s Telecom Debt 
Rs 40,260 Crore 
What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business
What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business

Accumulated Losses: Rs 38,175 Crore

Tata Teleservices and Tata Tele Maharashtra had total accumulated losses of Rs 38,175 crore as of March. Both the companies had a negative net worth.

What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business
What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business

Tata Sons has invested at least Rs 50,000 crore in the business over the last two decades. In the last one year, it has infused around Rs 4,200 crore in two tranches. Last month, the groups telecom flagship received a nod from its shareholders to raise Rs 4,000 crore in a rights issue. The funds will be invested in Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra).

Tata Teleservices has already pledged 26 percent of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) stake with lenders against loans taken by its arm for spectrum acquisition.

What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business
What The Numbers Say About Tata Group’s Telecom Business