Tata Motors held its 68th Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. In his inaugural address to the shareholders, Cyrus Mistry touched upon the challenges and opportunities ahead. Mistry talked about opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure. But he skipped talking about the poor performance of its domestic passenger vehicles business.
“The Indian operations were impacted heavily by the slowdown in the domestic auto sector, high interest rates and stagnation of industrial growth in sectors such as mining and infrastructure,” said Mistry, chairman, Tata Motors.
“There is an intensive engagement between the government and the Indian industry over the last few months which has resulted in measures in the economic climate. These are efforts to fast-track long gestation, large investment infrastructure projects, measures to attract foreign direct investment across sectors,” he said.
Tata Motors reported a 24% decline in consolidated net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013 at R1,762.8 crore. The maker of passenger car brands Tata Indica and Tata Safari cites the weak macro economic environment and increased competitive intensity behind the slump.
“The road ahead for Tata Motors continues to be challenging yet full of opportunities…”, he said.