One year of Tata chief Chandra: Group stocks rally up to 200%, add Rs 1.5 lakh cr to m-cap

N Chandrasekaran, fondly called Chandra, has completed a year as chairman of Tata Sons. 

Stabilisng the turbulance at Tata Group post a chaotic ouster of former chairman Cyrus Mistry, Chandra, the first non-Parsi chairman at Tata, took over the reins last year on February 21. 

A reliable face, Chandra's entry restored any damage to Tata brand that Mistry episode may have caused. 

Prior to joining Tata Sons, Chandra served as a managing director and chief executive officer of Tata's flagship firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). 

If TCS flourished under his tenure, he replicated the same success as Tata Sons Chief too. 

Chandra resolved a $120-crore legal dispute with DoComo. He sold the loss-making mobile venture Tata Teleservices to Bharti Airtel, and also paid Tata Tele's nearly Rs 17,000 crore debt. 

He decided to merge Tata Steel’s European business with ThyssenKrupp.

He turned around Tata Motors and Tata Steel, and approved the land demerger at Tata Communications. 

Most importantly, he kicked off a startegic agenda to unwind the cross-holdings amid 100-odd Tata companies. 

Just last week, taking the industry and stock market by surprise, Tata Steel emerged the top bidder for Bhushan Steel and Bhushan Power & Steel. While the contours of the deal may not have found favour with the Street, Chandra's gumption deserves praise.  

Stock market performance

The market capitalisation of listed Tata firms surged 18 per cent to Rs 9.7 lakh crore in the last one year, while the stock prices rallied up to 200 per cent. 

The combined market cap of 28 Tata firms surged a whopping Rs 1.5 lakh crore, coming in at Rs 9.7 lakh crore from Rs 8.5 lakh crore quoted last year on February 20. 

Source: Bloomberg

Among individual stocks, Tinplate (up 205 per cent) rallied the most, followed by Oriental Hotel (106 per cent), Automobile Corp of Goa (up 93 per cent), Titan (up 92 per cent) and Tata Global (up 86 per cent). 

Among major group firms, Titan, Tata Steel, Indian Hotel and TCS gained 92 per cent, 42 per cent, 21 per cent, and 19 per cent, while Tata Motors slipped 19 per cent.