Tata Group's earnings growth slows as market value declines amidst TCS slump

Despite operational gains under N. Chandrasekaran, Tata Group faces a slowdown in earnings momentum and a sharp decline in market value, heavily impacted by TCS’s low share of the group’s market capitalisation.

N. Chandrasekaran has delivered some clear operational wins for the Tata Group, most notably in turning around Tata Motors’ domestic passenger vehicle business, a task that had defeated earlier leaders. According to Business Standard, he also helped restore growth at Indian Hotels, Tata Steel and Tata Consumer, while the group’s listed companies substantially reduced debt and improved returns on equity over the past decade.

Yet the same report shows that the group’s earnings momentum has slowed. Combined net sales across listed Tata companies, excluding Tata Capital, rose just 3.9% in FY26, while adjusted net profit edged up 1.2% to ₹90,698.4 crore. That was only a modest improvement on FY25, when sales grew 2.5% and profit slipped slightly.

The bigger concern has been the stock market. Business Standard reported that the combined market value of Tata-listed companies fell 16.9% in FY26, far worse than the 3.7% decline in the Nifty 50’s total market capitalisation. It was the second straight year the group lagged the benchmark, with Tata companies’ market value dropping 8.1% in FY25 as the Nifty 50 advanced.

That slide has been heavily influenced by Tata Consultancy Services, which Business Standard said had seen its share of the group’s market capitalisation fall to a 21-year low. Other reports have pointed to weakness across Tata Motors, Trent and TCS as the main drag on the group’s valuation. Even so, the group’s market value had recovered to ₹25.5 trillion by Wednesday, after ending March at about ₹22.82 trillion, suggesting some stabilisation after a difficult year.