Tata Motors' consolidated debt jumps to Rs 47,149 crore in FY12

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Tata Motors' consolidated debt during financial year 2011-12 increased by nearly 44 per cent to a whopping Rs 47,149 crore on account of a series of long-term borrowings.

"Tata Motors group's borrowing as on March 31, 2012, stood at Rs 47,149 crore (previous year Rs 32,811 crore)," the company said in its Annual Report for 2011-12.

Out of this, the company's long-term debt went up by 62 per cent to Rs 27,962 crore as on March 31 from Rs 17,256 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

The highly profit making British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) also increased substantially by 47 per cent in the last fiscal.

"The borrowings of the Jaguar Land Rover as on March 31, 2012 stood at 1,848 million pounds (Rs 15,065 crore) (previous year 1,260 million pounds (Rs 9,007 crore))," the report said.

The consolidated net automotive debt to equity ratio stood at 0.25:1 as on March 31, 2012, compared to 0.56:1 on March 31, 2011, the company said.

On its borrowing strategy, the company said: "Tata Motors group has undertaken and will continue to implement suitable steps for raising long-term resources to match fund requirements and to optimise its loan maturity profile."

On a standalone basis, Tata Motors' debt stood at Rs 15,881 crore as against Rs 15,915 crore. Talking about cash reserves, the company said its consolidated cash and bank balances stood at Rs 18,238 crore in the last fiscal compared to Rs 11,410 crore in FY11.

On a standalone basis, it was Rs 1,841 crore as against Rs 2,429 crore. For JLR, cash and bank balances stood at 2,563 million pound (Rs 20,891 crore) as against 1,028 million pound (Rs 7,349 crore), resulting in negative net debt position.

Elaborating on various fund-raising activities, the report said: "During the year, the company raised syndicated foreign currency term loans of USD 500 million in accordance with the guidelines on External Commercial Borrowings.''

The amount was raised in two tranches with tenors from four to seven years for financing its general capital expenditure and investments in its overseas subsidiaries.

Besides, Tata Motors issued rated, listed, unsecured, non-convertible debentures of Rs 500 crore with maturities of 5-7 years in May 2012, to optimise the loan maturity profile.

In the case of JLR, the marque had issued 1,000 million pounds equivalent of Senior Notes in May 2011. "This facility gave Jaguar Land Rover an access to long tenor funding while also diversifying its sources of funding," the Annual Report said.

Also in March 2012, JLR had issued 500 million pounds Senior Notes due for 2020. "This was an opportunistic fund-raising, which enabled JLR to reinforce its market acceptance and demonstrated the confidence of the investors, while continuing to support steps taken towards strengthening capital structure and enhancing the debt maturity profile," the company said.

Besides, JLR had 'established 3-5 year committed revolving credit facility amounting to 710 million pound' during the last financial year.

These lines, which have been availed from 13 banks, can be drawn as per requirement and is a step to further strengthen the capital structure, the report said.

Tata Motors Finance Ltd had also raised Rs 155 crore by an issue of unsecured, non-convertible, subordinated perpetual debentures to meet its growth strategy and improve its capital adequacy ratio.