Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) paid its highest-ever dividend of ₹4,660 crore to Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd in FY26, during which the British brand slipped into a loss for the first time in three years, according to the Mumbai firm’s annual report released late on Monday.
A Tata Motors PV spokesperson told Mint in an emailed response that the record dividend came from JLR's profits in FY25. The payout marks the British brand’s second consecutive annual dividend after a five-year hiatus from FY19 to FY24.
In FY26, Jaguar Land Rover reported a net loss of about ₹2,400 crore, compared with a profit of roughly ₹21,600 crore in FY25. The decline followed a previous drop in profitability, with net profit falling to ₹21,600 crore in FY25 from around ₹27,000 crore in FY24.
According to the annual report, Tata Motors PV received the payment from its subsidiary TML Holdings Pte Ltd, which houses the British luxury brand acquired in 2008 for $2.3 billion. While the passenger vehicle company’s earnings from dividends surged nearly four-fold owing to the JLR payout, its own dividend to the Tata Group’s flagship firm Tata Sons remained flat at ₹887 crore.
Challenging times
This record dividend payout coincided with a challenging fiscal year for the British carmaker. JLR faced over $1 billion in extra costs due to a major cyberattack that halted production through September and early October, alongside higher import tariffs in the US, its largest market.
According to the company’s results released on 14 May, Tata Motors PV’s full-year revenue fell 8% to ₹3.35 trillion on the back of a 23% decline in volumes at JLR to 308,000 units. The impact of the cyberattack in September and higher US tariffs on JLR imports led to an operating loss of ₹1,377 crore from a profit of ₹19,394 crore in FY25.
The company's full-year net profit surged 193% to ₹82,645 crore due to a one-time exceptional gain of ₹82,616 crore following the demerger of its commercial vehicle.
FY26 also saw a leadership change at the British brand, with former Tata Motors chief financial officer PB Balaji joining JLR as its new chief executive after the exit of Adrian Mardell.
“These challenges arrived with the global automotive industry already under continued pressure from cost inflation, slower-than-expected uptake of electric vehicles, and the deterioration of market conditions in China, including the lowering of the threshold for the luxury car tax which affected pricing,” Balaji noted in his remarks in Tata Motors PV annual report.
He added, “2026 is set to be an exciting year for JLR as we develop our next-generation vehicles, including the launch of the Range Rover Electric and the unveiling of the first new Jaguar, and take further steps to unlock our potential by putting our world-renowned brands and peerless products at the very centre of our business.”
Cutting costs
After a series of hits to its profits in FY26, JLR is executing a plan to save up to £1.7 billion ( ₹21,745 crore). This initiative aims to increase margins and lower its breakeven volume to 300,000 cars per year, according to its March-quarter investor presentation on 14 May.
As JLR’s performance weighs on its Mumbai-based parent company, analysts have previously noted that the task remains difficult, with limited scope for near-term cost-cutting measures to boost its prospects.
“JLR continues to face multiple headwinds, both on the demand and cost front. While JLR has embarked on a major cost reduction initiative, it is likely to only help partially offset the current headwinds,” analysts at Motilal Oswal wrote in a 14 May note.
Tata Motors PV shares are up 7% in calendar year 2026 so far, as against a 5.6% decline in the Nifty Auto index.
