Tata Motors shares surge 4% on price hike plans

Shares of Tata Motors Ltd surged as much as 3.8% on Tuesday to hit an all-time high of ₹699.45 apiece on the BSE, a day after the automobile manufacturer said it plans to hike prices of passenger and electric vehicles beginning January 2024.

The scrip opened higher at ₹673.65, up 0.7% as against the previous closing price of ₹678.70, and closed 3.61% higher at ₹689. At the current share price, the company’s market capitalisation stood at more than ₹2.31 lakh crore. In the year-to-date period, the auto major’s stock has given 76.80% in returns.

The company is reportedly planning to hike prices owing to rising input costs. It has already hiked the price of commercial vehicles by 3% beginning October 1 this year. A number of carmakers such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra and German automaker Audi have already announced price hikes beginning January next year owing to inflationary pressure and rising input costs. .

In the July to September quarter, the company's consolidated net profit stood at ₹3,764 crore as against the loss of ₹945 crore in the year-ago period. The revenue from operations of the maker of Nexon and Harrier surged 32% year-on-year to ₹1.05 lakh crore in the September quarter as against ₹79,611 crore in the same period last year mainly on account of improved JLR sales.

The automaker had earlier said that it remains optimistic about demand despite external challenges and anticipates a moderate inflationary environment. According to the automobile manufacturer, the company has a healthy order book at JLR, strong demand for heavy trucks in CV and exciting new generation products in PV, which will aid in strong H2 sales.

"Our financial performance is expected to improve further owing to a richer mix, continued low-break-even in JLR, execution of demand-pull strategy in CV and improving profitability in PV/EV," the automaker said.

Last week, the company’s engineering arm Tata Technologies launched its initial public offer (IPO) from November 22 to November 24. Tata Motors owns a 74.69% stake in Tata Technologies.