Page 100 - TATA Motors AR_2011-12

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Sixty-Seventh Annual Report 2011-2012
Company will also deepen its sales and service network with
a focus on up-country markets. Aggressive cost reduction
continues to be a focus area to offset the increased input costs
and continuously improve margins. The Company is also
actively pursuing opportunities in the International markets
including the possibility of CKD and SKD assembly to offset
high import costs.
The Company will continue its initiative of setting up Nano
Specific and UV Specific dealerships to improve reach and
penetration alongwith providing an added focus to the products
as required. It will continue to work with all partners as well as
multiple financiers to work towards a best-in-class sales and
service experience.
The European economy continues to struggle, with austerity
measures in place in a number of countries. The economic
situation and recent national election results continue to create
uncertainty around European zone stability, the Euro and
borrowing costs. Credit continues to be difficult to obtain for
customers and the outlook remains volatile. Initial figures
suggest that the UK economy has re-entered recession in the
last three months. Trading conditions in the UK remain
difficult. The US economy has recovered more favourably
than other mature economies since the economic downturn,
with GDP growth and falling unemployment, although the
position remains fragile.
The Chinese economy has continued to grow strongly
throughout FY 2011-12. GDP growth is likely to slow in future,
although may remain above 8%. The Asia Pacific region main
markets are Japan, Australia and New Zealand. These regions
were less affected by the economic crisis compared to western
economies and are recovering more favourably, often due to
increased trade with China and other growth economies. The
major constituents in other markets are Russia, South Africa and
Brazil, alongside the rest of Africa and South America. These
economies were not as badly affected by the economic crisis as
the western economies and have continued GDP growth in the
last few years, partially on the back of increased commodity
and oil prices.
Jaguar Land Rover will continue to focus on profitable volume
growth, managing costs, improving efficiencies to sustain the
growthmomentum and continuous sustainable investments in
technology and products. It will also focus on increasing its
presence in the growth markets such as China, Russia, India and
Brazil along with launching new products and variants.
Internal Control Systems andtheir adequacy
The Company has an adequate system of internal controls in
place. It has documented procedures covering all financial
and operating functions. These controls have been designed
to provide a reasonable assurance with regard to maintaining
of proper accounting controls, monitoring of operations,
protecting assets fromunauthorized use or losses, compliances
with regulations and for ensuring reliability of financial
reporting. The Company has continued its efforts to align all
its processes and controls with global best practices in these
areas as well.
Some significant features of the internal control systems are:
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Preparation and monitoring of annual budgets for all
operating and service functions;
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State-of-the-art ERP, Supplier Relations Management and
Customer Relations Management, connect its different
locations, dealers and vendors for efficient and seamless
information exchange;
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An on-going program for reinforcement of the Tata Code
of Conduct. The Code covers integrity of financial reporting,
ethical conduct, regulatory compliance, conflict of
interests review and reporting of concerns.
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A well-established multi-disciplinary Internal Audit team,
which reviews and reports to management and the Audit
Committee about the compliance with internal controls