Latest news with #ShriramSubramanian
Mint
10-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Tata Sons' FY25 revenue is likely to be lower despite record dividends
MUMBAI : Tata Sons, the privately held parent company of the Tata group, will likely see its revenues shrink in 2024-25 despite receiving record dividend income from the group companies. The reason: Last fiscal's one-off income from the sale of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd shares. The company's dividend income from 11 listed companies surpassed the ₹35,000-crore mark in 2024-25, which is the highest ever, showed data compiled by Mint. However, since Tata Sons sold TCS shares worth approximately ₹9,000 crore in the open market in 2023-24, its income is likely to see a decline in the latest fiscal. Also Read: Borrowed time: Investors bullish on near-term upside increase leveraged bets on Tata Motors, SBI, HAL, Jio Financial Dividends and share buybacks from group companies account for nearly all of Tata Sons' top line. While the conglomerate has 26 listed companies, the 11 companies used in this analysis account for over 95% of dividend income of the holding firm. The company received a dividend income of ₹21,529 crore in 2023-24, according to its annual report. In addition, it received ₹10,548 crore from a TCS share buyback, taking its total payout from group companies to ₹32,077 crore. Adding revenue from other sources like Tata brand usage feeds and the sale of TCS shares took Tata Sons' 2023-24 revenue to ₹43,893 crore. Tata Sons did not respond to Mint's queries. Reaping dividends TCS, where Tata Sons holds a 71.74% stake, led the pack with a dividend of ₹32,184 crore in 2024-25. In fact, a 12% increase in the payout from TCS is the reason why the dividend income of Tata Sons has hit a fresh record in 2024-25 despite a dip in dividends from three other companies. Tata Steel and Tata Motors were the next two highest dividend returning units of Tata Sons, with a payout of ₹1,427 crore and ₹947 crore. Also Read: N. Chandrasekaran changed Tata Capital. Now, the company is prepping for an IPO 'The reason for growth in dividends is because of the improving profitability of most large Tata group companies and likely the lack of suitable reinvestment opportunities for those companies," said Shriram Subramanian, the managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research Services. For instance, TCS generates the highest free cash flow within the group. The company will need to payout the cash as dividends due to a slowdown in the IT services sector leaving it with few investment opportunities, Subramanian added. Tata Sons also needs these dividends as the company has to invest in fledgling businesses like Air India and Tata Electronics, which take up a lot of capital, he added. Air India is the privately held aviation business of the Tata group while Tata Electronics, which is also private, assembles iPhones for Apple Inc. on a contract basis and is setting up semiconductor manufacturing fabs. The Chandra factor The dividend income of Tata Sons has surged sharply during the tenure of chairman N. Chandrasekaran who took over the reins on 21 February 2017. The 2024-25 dividend income is up five-fold since 2016-17. Seven of the 11 listed Tata group companies analyzed returned dividend in excess of ₹100 crore to Tata Sons. Only three of these companies had paid the parent over ₹100 crore dividend in 2016-17. 'The Tata group of companies is a very large group, and one person alone cannot be responsible for its performance or the lack of it," Subramanian said. Also Read: Tata Motors, JLR flag EV supply chain as a separate business risk. They don't name China, but its imprint is all over. 'However, Mr. Chandrasekaran has, in the past eight years, brought some dynamism and tried to consolidate businesses," he added. Chandrasekaran joined the board of Tata Sons in October 2016 and took over as the chairman in February 2017. He also chairs the boards of Tata Steel Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, Tata Power Co. Ltd, Air India Ltd, TCS and several group operating companies. He worked in TCS for 30 years, including eight years as its chief executive until 2017.
Mint
04-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Wanted: Independent directors for PSU boards. But where is the approval?
Mumbai: Over three-fourths of India's listed public sector enterprises do not have the requisite number of independent directors, as these companies continue to wait for clearance from various government departments. As many as 62 out of 79 listed PSUs lack the mandated number of independent directors, according to data from Prime Database. Despite repeated regulatory reminders, these companies await clearances from their respective ministries, delaying crucial appointments and inviting penalties from stock exchanges. Government-owned firms, including Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp, State Bank of India, National Aluminium Company Ltd. and Steel Authority of India Ltd, did not have the minimum number of independent directors as of 2 June, according to Prime Database, a Mumbai-based market data tracking firm. The list of non-compliant PSUs includes banks, oil and gas companies, metals and mining firms, power utilities, telecommunications, railways, and engineering firms. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India's listing regulations, at least one-third of a listed entity's board members must comprise independent directors. Additionally, if the chairman is an executive director, at least half of the board must consist of independent directors. Also Read: HPCL gets new chief, four more large PSUs in queue Boardroom bottlenecks There are more red flags when it comes to board committees: 64 PSUs lack an independent director as chairperson of their audit committee, and 68 companies do not have independent chairs for their nomination and remuneration panels. Additionally, 14 of the listed PSUs are yet to appoint a single woman director, despite gender diversity requirements, according to Prime Database. 'It's ironic that we are asking all private sector companies to comply with these requirements when government-owned companies themselves are non-compliant," said Pranav Haldea, managing director at Prime Database. With PSUs failing to comply with the market regulator's rules, many have been fined by stock exchanges. Last week, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) was fined ₹33.32 lakh for having only three independent directors—two short of the required five—on its 10-member board. A spokesperson for Nalco said the company was continuously following up with the ministry of mines, its administrative ministry, for the appointment of the requisite number of independent directors. The bottleneck lies in the approval process across various ministries, according to proxy advisory firms. 'The Prime Minister's Office should send a strong message to all concerned ministries and PSU companies that they need to be compliant, as non-compliance by PSUs doesn't send the right message to investors," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm. 'For instance, when the government, as a major shareholder, is involved in abusive transactions or there is trouble with key management, independent directors are the custodians of minority shareholders' interests," Subramanian said. Also Read: India's PSU banks outshine private peers in arresting bad loans Many of the largest money managers, including BlackRock and Vanguard, have voiced their concerns when these companies have sought shareholder approval for the appointment of directors, according to voting disclosures reviewed by Mint. In August last year, Hindustan Aeronautics sought shareholder approval for the appointment of former chairman C.B. Ananthakrishnan. Nearly a fourth of public institutions opposed the decision. 'Nominee serves as chair of the board and bears responsibility for lack of independence. Nominee is an executive director on the audit committee," noted BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, with $11.6 trillion in assets under management. In the same month, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. sought shareholders' approval for the appointment of Pankaj Kumar as a director, but 28.35% of public institutions, including Vanguard, opposed his re-appointment. Despite governance lapses, investor interest in PSUs has surged. The BSE PSU Index, which comprises 63 companies, has outperformed the Sensex over the last five years. The index has gained 301% between 5 June 2020 and 3 June 2025, while the Sensex has risen by 135.5% during this period.
Economic Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Jetking Infotrain invests in Bitcoin: A bold move in India's crypto landscape
Jetking also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Jetking Infotrain, an IT hardware training firm based in Mumbai, has invested in Bitcoin. The company raised ₹6.10 crore through a share sale. It then used these funds and existing cash to purchase Bitcoin. As of May 28, 2025, Jetking holds 21 Bitcoins valued at ₹13.6 crore. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Crypto TrackerPowered By TOP COINS TOP COIN SETS Tether 85.36 ( -0.05 %) Buy XRP 191.62 ( -1.24 %) Buy BNB 57,865 ( -1.36 %) Buy Bitcoin 9,040,602 ( -1.64 %) Buy Ethereum 224,962 ( -1.73 %) Buy Mumbai: In a rare instance, Jetking Infotrain , a Mumbai-based firm in the business of IT hardware training, raised money through a share sale to buy virtual digital asset Wednesday, the company with a market value of ₹79 crore informed exchanges that it had completed a preferential issue of shares , raising ₹6.10 crore by allotting 3.96 lakh shares at ₹154 each. The company did not disclose to whom it sold the shares. Jetking said it deployed the entire corpus and used its cash to buy the shares rose 2% to close at ₹ of March 31, 2025, the company held 15.02 bitcoins on its balance sheet. As of May 28, 2025, the company holds 21 bitcoins acquired at an average purchase price of ₹64.6 lakh, valuing it at ₹13.6 listed firms stick to traditional investments. Jetking's move echoes the bold treasury strategies of US firms like Tesla, but is unheard of in India's stringently regulated, crypto-cautious environment."A company is also a legal entity, can invest in bitcoins, as long as they are disclosing it properly and upfront to the exchanges their purpose of raising money via preferential issue," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern Research also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve reported net sales of ₹5.4 crore for the March 2025 quarter, as against ₹4.4 crore in the same quarter last year. The company posted a net loss of ₹1.3 crore as against a ₹0.6 crore loss recorded in March 2024.
Time of India
30-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Jetking Infotrain invests in Bitcoin: A bold move in India's crypto landscape
Jetking also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Jetking Infotrain, an IT hardware training firm based in Mumbai, has invested in Bitcoin. The company raised ₹6.10 crore through a share sale. It then used these funds and existing cash to purchase Bitcoin. As of May 28, 2025, Jetking holds 21 Bitcoins valued at ₹13.6 crore. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Crypto TrackerPowered By TOP COINS TOP COIN SETS Tether 85.36 ( -0.06 %) Buy XRP 191.86 ( -1.22 %) Buy BNB 57,647 ( -1.78 %) Buy Ethereum 2,24,687 ( -1.81 %) Buy Bitcoin 90,27,169 ( -1.91 %) Buy Mumbai: In a rare instance, Jetking Infotrain , a Mumbai-based firm in the business of IT hardware training, raised money through a share sale to buy virtual digital asset Wednesday, the company with a market value of ₹79 crore informed exchanges that it had completed a preferential issue of shares , raising ₹6.10 crore by allotting 3.96 lakh shares at ₹154 each. The company did not disclose to whom it sold the shares. Jetking said it deployed the entire corpus and used its cash to buy the shares rose 2% to close at ₹ of March 31, 2025, the company held 15.02 bitcoins on its balance sheet. As of May 28, 2025, the company holds 21 bitcoins acquired at an average purchase price of ₹64.6 lakh, valuing it at ₹13.6 listed firms stick to traditional investments. Jetking's move echoes the bold treasury strategies of US firms like Tesla, but is unheard of in India's stringently regulated, crypto-cautious environment."A company is also a legal entity, can invest in bitcoins, as long as they are disclosing it properly and upfront to the exchanges their purpose of raising money via preferential issue," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern Research also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve reported net sales of ₹5.4 crore for the March 2025 quarter, as against ₹4.4 crore in the same quarter last year. The company posted a net loss of ₹1.3 crore as against a ₹0.6 crore loss recorded in March 2024.
Mint
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
Uber's lifeline off the table for BluSmart as EV depreciation becomes key contention
New Delhi: Uber has called off discussions to transition about 5,000 electric cars of Gensol Engineering Ltd-owned BluSmart to its platform, according to two people aware of the development. The talks were called off due to concerns over the price being asked for the cars. Talks had started as part of BluSmart's plan to revive operations of its cabs. BluSmart was supposed to act as a fleet partner for Uber. 'Uber has now withdrawn its interest," one of the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. 'Its main concern was the depreciation of cars in the BluSmart fleet. The price being asked for the transition did not meet its valuation." This is the second setback for the embattled Anmol Jaggi-founded BluSmart in as many months. Last month, a ₹ 315-crore transaction to sell 2,997 cars to Chennai-based Refex Group, at a value of ₹ 10.5 lakh per car, was cancelled. Also read | Gensol promoters lose over half of their ownership According to the person mentioned above, an early assessment of BluSmart's fleet was done by Uber's team after the talks started in March. A key concern was that electric vehicles (EVs) have high depreciation, which was not accounted for in the price being asked by BluSmart, the person cited above said. Mint could not independently verify the price being asked by BluSmart. Earlier, Mint reported based on data from used car marketplace players such as Cars24 and Spinny that EVs lose value quicker than traditional fuel vehicles. According to Cars24, popular ICE (internal combustion engine) models can retain 50% of their value in three to five years, unlike EVs. Spinny's observations suggested that old EV models can have price gaps as high as 6% with old ICE models. Another concern that emerged during the talks was the fact that a large share of Gensol-owned Blusmart fleet of about 5,000 cars was hypothecated with lenders Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda). Gensol had taken loans of more than ₹ 663 crore from these lenders to buy the cars, which were then-leased to BluSmart. 'There were doubts over whether the cars can be sub-leased to Uber. The company was advised to not take the risk as there is some regulatory overhang," the person cited above said. Read this | How did Gensol's lenders miss a ₹ 262-crore gap for more than a year? Queries emailed on Friday to Uber and BluSmart remained unanswered till press time. 'There must be concerns among potential buyers about what value they will get from a deal with BluSmart," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm. 'There is considerable liability linked with the cars and questions over the value as well." Subramanian added that buyers are aware that this is a distress sale, so they will negotiate hard on the price. To be sure, Blusmart followed an asset-light business model in which it did not directly own its cab fleet. Instead, it took cars from leasing partners. About 5,000 of its more than 8,000-vehicle fleet came from Gensol while it also worked with some partners such as Japanese financial services firm Orix and Clime Finance. BluSmart's board of directors has co-founder Anmol Singh Jaggi; Sophia Nadur, bp Venture managing director for Asia and Middle East; Inderpreet Wadhwa, former chief executive officer of Azure Power; and Dharmichand Sunil Kumar, who is registered as director in nearly two dozen companies. And this | Gensol fast-charged Blu-Smart. But their ties are a governance puzzle Reportedly, some visuals had appeared in April where BluSmart cars were being rebranded to Uber Green. According to a second person aware of the developments, those cars were not owned by Gensol but another fleet partner of BluSmart, which could have struck a deal with Uber. The fast turn of events since the downgrade of Gensol Engineering's credit to default in March by rating agency Icra has made things difficult for BluSmart. Following Sebi's interim order against Gensol and its promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, PFC and Ireda have also filed complaints against the company with the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police. As per a PTI report, the Enforcement Directorate has raided Gensol and detained promoter Puneet Singh Jaggi. His brother is said to be in Dubai currently. Meanwhile, there have been reports of BluSmart being in talks with climate-focused funds such as Eversource Capital for a slump sale, which has not materialised yet. Since the start of the year, Gensol Engineering's share price has lost over 90% value as against a 2% rise in Nifty. And read | More than half of Uber's 1 million fleet in the country comprises bike taxis and autos
