Tata Group’s financial year 2025-26 did not go well. The group also had to face many management related problems during this period. Meanwhile, the group has suffered huge losses due to some new businesses started under Tata Sons. According to a report in Times of India, some of the new trump cards under Tata Sons are expected to suffer a total loss of up to Rs 29,000 crore in FY26. This is much more than the earlier estimate of Rs 5,700 crore.
The loss in the first nine months of FY26 has reached Rs 21,700 crore, which is much higher than the figure of Rs 16,550 crore for the full year FY25. The main reasons for this are Air India, Tata Digital, Tata Electronics and Tejas Networks. Where the loss had reduced between FY23 and FY24. At the same time, it increased again in FY25 and has increased even more rapidly in this financial year, which points towards an unstable but growing trend.
The widening gap between projections and actual performance also became a reason for postponing the re-appointment of Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran for a third term in the board meeting held in February. He is expected to present a plan to control the losses in June. This is a big concern which was raised by Noel Tata.
Tata Digital’s performance
Tata Digital has emerged as a major concern in the group’s new investments. This platform, launched in 2019, includes BigBasket, Tata 1mg, Croma, Tata CLiQ and Tata Neu. The group invested more than Rs 24,000 crore in this. But despite this investment it has not been able to earn profit yet.
It is estimated that its total loss in FY26 will cross Rs 5,000 crore, which will be the highest ever. The loss in the first nine months alone has exceeded Rs 3,750 crore, which is more than the initial estimate for the entire year. Thomas Kuruvilla, managing partner of Arthur D Little, told ToI that although any new business takes time to build, some mistakes were made. Frequent changes in leadership, slow pace of product improvement, and treating loyalty programs as the main means of growth had negative consequences.
BigBasket also left behind
Thomas Kuruvilla said that competitors left BigBasket behind not in terms of brand but in the way of working. They remained ahead in number of ‘dark stores’ and speed of delivery. This is a basic task that may not look like much, but Tata Digital invested less in it. The company suffered a loss of Rs 4,610 crore in FY25, of which BigBasket accounted for the largest share. After this comes Croma, Tata 1mg and Tata CLiQ. A similar trend is expected in FY26 also.
Crisis deepens on Air India
Despite concerns about Tata Digital, Air India continues to be the biggest contributor to losses. The airline’s loss in FY26 is estimated to reach Rs 20,000 crore, which is ten times more than the earlier estimate of Rs 2,000 crore and a loss of Rs 15,000 crore has been recorded in the first nine months alone. In comparison, this figure was Rs 11,000 crore in FY25.