Tata Motors has pretty much allowed JLR to operate at arms’ length since buying the company in 2008. That changed suddenly on 4 August, when the Indian company announced that its own chief financial officer, PB Balaji, would take over as CEO of JLR from November, replacing Adrian Mardell.
“It’s a harbinger of tighter Tata financial control as the firm enters choppy waters amid the shift to EVs, Trump tariffs etc,” said David Bailey, professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School.
By picking Balaji (known universally by his surname only), Tata has put in place an executive pivotal to the entire organisation, with board seats on Air India, Tata Consumer Products and battery company Agratas.
