Tata Sons FY21 profit up over 2x on TCS buyback – Times of India

MUMBAI: Tata Sons profit more than doubled in fiscal 2021 on the back of gains made from participating in the share buyback programme of TCS. Profit zoomed 142% to Rs 6,512 crore from Rs 2,680 crore in FY20.
Revenue from operations — which mainly comprise dividend income, interest income and brand royalty fees — fell 62% to Rs 9,460 crore. Other income was higher at Rs 10,138 crore as compared to Rs 126 crore in FY20.
This, Tata Sons explained in its annual report, was because a substantial part of the other income was profit from buyback of shares by TCS. Including other income, its total revenue declined 21% to Rs 19,598 crore.
Either gains made from participating in the TCS share repurchase scheme or its special dividend payout has been boosting the earnings of Tata Sons, which has 269 subsidiaries, in the last four fiscals.

Debt and borrowings reduced slightly to Rs 30,064 crore, according to the FY21 report. Cash and bank balances fell 35% to Rs 912 crore. Total expenses decreased 22% to Rs 3,981 crore.
On a consolidated basis, the company’s profit increased 78% to Rs 19,397 crore.
Tata Sons has called for an annual general meeting mid-September to seek shareholders’ approval on the re-appointment of three directors.
There is, however, no mention of chairman N Chandrasekaran’s re-appointment in the annual report. His term as a director of Tata Sons — he was appointed on October 25, 2016 — ends this October. His chairmanship tenure, however, ends in February.
The FY21 report said that the nomination and remuneration committee reviewed the performance of Tata Sons board as a whole, and its individual directors. It added that, in a separate meeting of independent directors, the performance of non-independent directors as well as the performance of the chairman was evaluated. The report didn’t elaborate further.
Tata Sons board consists of seven directors — independent directors Harish Manwani & Ajay Piramal, non-executive directors Venu Srinivasan, Bhaskar Bhat & Ralf Speth, and executive directors Saurabh Agrawal & Chandrasekaran.
The three directors that will seek re-appointment are Manwani (former Unilever COO), Speth (ex-JLR chief, who joined Tata Sons board along with Chandrasekaran) and Agrawal (who was brought in by Chandrasekaran and was appointed on the company’s board on November 16, 2017).
The remuneration of Agrawal, who is the CFO of Tata Sons, went up by 35% to Rs 21 crore, according to the FY21 report, making him one of the highest paid Tata executives. The report, however, didn’t mention Chandrasekaran’s FY21 remuneration.