Seven years after its multi-billion-dollar acquisitions of Corus and JLR, the Tata group's finances seem to be back on track. For the first time since 2007-08, its combined leverage ratio declined to less than one in 2013-14, compared with 1.22 the previous year and 1.62 at its peak in 2008-09.

The improvement was led by Tata Motors, once a financially shaky truck and car maker but now the largest cash generator for the group, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), with a vast free cash flow.

NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex plunged as much as 86 points in trade on Wednesday following muted trend seen in other Asian markets. The fall in the index was led by losses in ITC, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and L&T.

Tracking the momentum, the 50-share Nifty index also came under some bit of pressure but was trading above its crucial psychological level of 7700.

Shareholders of Tata Motors raised the alarming slide in car and truck market shares repeatedly at the company's 69th annual general meeting held here on Thursday.

Tata Motors' shareholders were disappointed that Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra had cruised past in all automobile segments created by the Mumbai-based company.

As many as 128 companies within the Standard & Poor’s 500 universe command a market value that is higher than the combined market-cap of all listed Tata Group entities.

This list of global companies is dominated by seven technology giants including Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Oracle and Intel.

Tata Motors is trading lower by 2.3% at Rs 443, extending its past two-days fall, on reports that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reduced its prices on three of its high end models in response to an pricing and anti-monopoly investigation in China.

The stock has declined nearly 9% in past three trading sessions from Rs 486 on July 24 on National Stock Exchange, compared to 1.1% decline in benchmark CNX Nifty.

The benchmark indices have erased some of its early gains with IT major Infosys and Tata Motors contributing nearly 36 points to the decline.

The barometer index, Sensex is up 123 points at 25,765 and Nifty is up 34 points at 7,698 levels.

Ever since the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) announced a voluntary recall policy in 2012, carmakers have resolved defects in more than half a million vehicles.

After close to a month long closure, Tata Motors has resumed production trials of the Nano car at its Sanand facility.

Post maintenance, the production trials are believed to be for a new Nano variant. The company had closed the facility citing maintenance and re-tooling for new variants last month.

Tata Motors' domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) volumes in June-14 at 9,620 units (-13.6% y-o-y) remained weak after declining by 23% in FY14. Our channel checks reflect some moderation in discounting, however, it continues to be at significantly high levels (10%+ on the headline ASP—average selling price—for key models) reflecting persistence of weak demand environment. We expect MHCV industry demand to revive over FY15-17 (18% p.a.).Tata Motors' domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) volumes in June-14 at 9,620 units (-13.6% y-o-y) remained weak after declining by 23% in FY14. Our channel checks reflect some moderation in discounting, however, it continues to be at significantly high levels (10%+ on the headline ASP—average selling price—for key models) reflecting persistence of weak demand environment. We expect MHCV industry demand to revive over FY15-17 (18% p.a.).

Markets have started the trading session on a firm note with the Indices hitting lifetime high. The first Budget session of the 16th Lok Sabha begins today.

Indices continue to scale fresh highs on account of strong foreign inflows and budget optimism.

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