Tata Motors is planning to raise funds by offloading a stake in finance arm

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Tata Motors Finance. “We are looking at various options for offloading stake,” Tata Motors vice-chairman Ravi Kant said. He did not quantify the percentage stake that the company wished to offload, the amount it is looking to raise or the timeline by which the stake would be sold. Tata Motors has a debt of about Rs 20,000 crore, its chief financial officer C Ramakrishnan had said while announcing the company’s third quarter results two weeks ago.

Tata Motors is also bidding to supply 1,000 bulletproof trucks worth Rs 350 crore to the Indian army. “The vehicles are valued at Rs 35 lakh each,” head of defence business V S Noronha said. “We will compete with other local companies for the bid,” Kant said. Ashok Leyland and Mahindra & Mahindra may also bid to supply defence vehicles to the Indian army. “The defence business will continue to become bigger. It is a tender-based system, which will keep fluctuating. It depends on timings of orders,” Kant said about the future prospects of India’s $10 billion annual defence market.

Tata Motors may also join hands with a partner for developing defence vehicles.

“We will look for partnerships or memorandum or understandings. A very good partnership can be made with companies which can provide mobility and fire solutions,” Tata Motors managing director (India operations) PM Telang said.

Tata Motors on Tuesday also showcased a new Mine Protected Vehicle for the army, paramilitary and defence forces. Tata Motors will hike prices of its commercial vehicles, president of commercial vehicle business Ravi Pisharody said.

“We will raise vehicle prices by 1-2 per cent in April because new technologies are required to upgrade to the emission standards,” Pisharody said. On Monday, Ashok Leyland COO Vinod K Dasari had told reporters that Ashok Leyland would raise prices of trucks and buses between 10 and 15 per cent. On Monday, the largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra and the second largest commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland announced joint ventures to jointly develop defence vehicles.