• Healthy all round performance drives both revenues and profits
  o HI FY08 consolidated PAT up 26 per cent, Diluted EPS (not annualised): Rs 13.09
  o H1 FY08 standalone PAT up 13 per cent
• Increased soda ash prices on the back of robust demand environment help mitigate impact of rising input costs
• Debottlenecking of urea operations progressing as planned as also New Business Ventures
  

Tata Chemicals Limited, a leading manufacturer of chemicals, fertilisers and food additives today announced its audited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2007. The Company is the third largest manufacturer of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate in the world, apart from being the leader in the Indian market. Tata Chemicals also enjoys leadership in the Indian edible salt market and is the most efficient manufacturer of urea fertiliser in the country.

Commenting on the Company's performance for Q2 / H1 FY2008, Homi Khusrokhan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals, said, "I am happy to report strong operating revenue and profit growth for the period under review. The demand environment continues to be healthy for all our core products. Additionally our new business ventures namely Fresh Produce and Bio Fuels are also on track. I continue to be excited and confident for opportunities for Tata Chemicals in the future."

Note:
Consolidated financials indicated in this communication are audited and primarily include those of the Brunner Mond Group acquired in December 2005 and the one third stake acquisition in Indo Maroc Phosphore S.A. (IMACID)

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

H1 FY2008 (April - September 2007) v/s H1 FY2007 (April - September 2006) (all figures standalone)

• Income from operations (net of excise) at Rs. 1,921 crore up from Rs. 1,881 crore
  
• Profit from Operations at Rs. 369 crore; up from Rs. 347 crore
  
• Profit before tax (PBT) at Rs. 383 crore; up 15 per cent compared to Rs. 332 crore
  
• Profit After Tax (PAT) at Rs. 264 crore; up 13 per cent compared with Rs. 233 crore in H1 FY2007
  
• Basic EPS (for the period): Rs. 12.26
  
• Diluted (EPS) (for the period): Rs. 9.72

Q2 FY2008 (July - September 2007) v/s Q2 FY 2007 (July - September 2006) (all figures standalone)

• Income from operations (net of excise) up 11 per cent at Rs. 1,255 crore compared Rs. 1,126 crore
  
• Profit from Operations improves 9 per cent to Rs. 209 crore from Rs. 191 crore
  
• PBT at Rs. 207 crore compared to Rs 221 crore
  
  • PBT for the quarter is lower than the corresponding quarter last year mainly because of higher dividend income and foreign exchange gain in Q2 FY07
    (Rs crore)
    
    

    Detail	Q2FY08	Q2FY07
    PBT (Without other income)	163	153
    Other Income	44	68
    PBT (With other income)	207	221

    
    
• Correspondingly PAT at Rs.143 crore as compared to Rs 158 crore
  
• Basic EPS (for the quarter): Rs. 6.63
  
• Diluted EPS (for the quarter): Rs. 5.61
  
  CONSOLIDATED PERSPECTIVE

H1 FY2008 (April - September 2007) v/s H1 FY2007 (April - September 2006)

• Income from operations (net of excise) at Rs. 2,863 crore up from Rs. 2,805 crore
  
• Profit from Operations at Rs. 539 crore; up from Rs. 499 crore
  
• Profit before tax (PBT) at Rs. 473 crore; up 24 per cent compared to Rs. 383 crore
  
• Profit after Tax (PAT) at Rs. 346 crore up 26 per cent compared with Rs. 274 crore in H1 FY2007
  
• Basic EPS (for the period): Rs. 16.07
  
• Diluted (EPS) (for the period): Rs. 13.09
  
  SEGMENTAL PERFORMANCE

A. CHEMICALS

• Domestic sales amounted to Rs. 681 crore for the half year ended September 30, 2007 and Rs. 330 crore for Q2FY08
  
• PBIT margins for the chemicals business stood at 22 per cent for the half year period and 18 per cent for the quarter
  
• Prices of Soda Ash were considerably higher this quarter; raw material prices continue to rise as well
  
• The demand for other products like Sodium bicarbonate and STPP continue to be firm
  
• Production during Q2FY08 was impacted by flooding at Mithapur as a result of a very heavy monsoon in Gujarat

Soda ash

Performance perspective

• Tata Chemicals maintained its position as market leader in the domestic soda ash segment with an overall domestic market share of 31 per cent
  
• Sales volumes (including exports) for Soda ash for the half year ended September 2007 stood at 305,000 tonnes. Exports were 38,000 tonnes
  
• The benefits gained on imports of raw materials due to a weakening dollar were neutralised to an extent by rising ocean freight rates resulting from increasing fuel costs, trade and port congestion. Forward contracts entered into at the start of the year for both the key raw materials and freight have helped considerably.

Industry perspective and outlook

• Globally soda ash demand has remained very tight. International spot prices have risen to ~ USD 250-300 per tonne.
  
• Domestically too soda ash prices have been increased by ~12 per cent. This increase has helped to mitigate increasing coke and coal prices

Food additives

• Tata Chemicals maintained market dominance in the domestic edible salt market with a 50 per cent share in the national branded segment
  
• I-shakti salt sales in Southern India have been encouraging

Cement

• Q2FY08 sales volumes were 72,000 tonnes; H1 FY08 sales volumes were 178,000 tonnes
  
• Cement demand was lower during the quarter mainly due to incessant rains

B. FERTILISERS

• H1FY08 revenues from the fertiliser business were Rs. 1,239 crore for the half year and Rs. 926 crore for the quarter ended September, 30 2007.
  
• PBIT margin was 15 per cent for the half year period as well as for the quarter
  
• Fertiliser sales in Q2 for all major products were robust and overall consumption of fertilisers grew by 8 per cent year on year
  
• The negative impact of subsidy receivables has been reversed to a great extent by the amended Government Policy of paying subsidies on a monthly basis

C. FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES AND JOINT VENTURES OVERVIEW

• Performance of Brunner Mond Europe has been strong on the back of firm soda ash prices and stable production
  
• The expanded operations at Magadi have begun producing small quantities which are expected to increase over the next quarters as operations stabilise
  
• Strong phosphoric acid prices resulted in encouraging performance by IMACID

D. NEW BUSINESSES

Fresh Produce Business

• Work on the first distribution centre, to come up near Ludhiana is progressing smoothly
  
• Other towns are being evaluated to set up next few distribution centres
  

Bio-fuels Business

• The company has placed an order with Praj Industries for a 30 kiloliters / day bioethanol plant, to be set up in Nanded in Maharashtra
  
• Jatropha trials are also being carried out in four different agro climatic zones in Gujarat and Maharashtra

E. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Total consolidated debt as on September 30, 2007 stood at Rs 2,039 crore. Debt largely comprises low cost short term buyer's credit for the phosphatics business, the USD 150 million Foreign Currency Commercial borrowing raised in January 2005 and the USD 100 million US Private Placement

----Ends----

Note: *All sales volumes exclude Inter Unit and Trading quantities
**All production volumes are gross
Attached: Results table

About Tata Chemicals Limited
Established in 1939, Tata Chemicals Limited is India's leading manufacturer of inorganic chemicals, fertilisers and food additives. Part of the US$ 22 billion Tata Group, the company owns and operates the largest and most integrated inorganic chemicals complex in the country at Mithapur, Gujarat. The company's state-of-the-art fertiliser complex at Babrala, Uttar Pradesh, is known for its world-class energy efficiency standards, and has won several awards in the fields of environmental conservation, community development and safety. TCL's phosphatic fertiliser complex at Haldia in West Bengal is currently the only manufacturing unit for DAP/NPK complexes in West Bengal. In 2005 the company made several international footprints mainly in Europe and Africa with the acquisition of 33% share in Indo Maroc Phosphore (IMACID) of Morocco and 100% buyout of the Brunner Mond Group which has production facilities in the UK, Netherlands and Kenya along with port facilities in South Africa. Brunner Mond also has a captive natural soda ash reserve in Lake Magadi (Kenya), the acquisition of which has placed Tata Chemicals as the 3rd largest producer of soda ash in the world.

For further information contact
P.K.Ghose
Tata Chemicals Ltd
Tel.: +91 22 6665 8282
Fax: +91 22 2285 1132
Email: pkghose@tatachemicals.com

Gavin Desa
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel.: +91 22 4007 5037
Fax: +91 22 2284 4561
Email: gavin@cdr-india.com

Some of the statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward looking statements. These statements are based on the present business environment and regulatory framework. We assume no responsibility for any action taken based on the said information, or to update the same as circumstances change.