UK govt guarantees ₹17,733 crore loan for Jaguar Land Rover amid cyberattack — Here's what we know

The United Kingdom will extend a ₹17,733 crore loan (£1.5 billion or $2 billion) to Tata Group owned auto maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to help support impact of a cyberattack that has hindered operations, according to a Bloomberg report.

The loan is aimed at easing the strain on suppliers hit by a production halt at JLR's UK facility, which was triggered by a cyberattack.

The move comes after the auto major halted production at plants in the UK, Slovakia, Brazil and India as a result of the attack earlier this month. The decision also derailed the wider supply chain, it added.

UK govt guarantees loan for JLR: What we know

• The loan, to be provided by a commercial bank and guaranteed by UK Export Finance, will be repaid over five years, the government said on September 27.
• The Labour government had been in talks to offer support to suppliers caught in the fallout of the hack, which forced some vendors to send staff home while others await payments from JLR, as per the report.
• JLR, which is Britain’s largest carmaker, employs 34,000 people in the UK, with a further 120,000 jobs in the country tied to its supply chain.
• “This loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK,” Business Secretary Peter Kyle, who this week visited the automaker’s headquarters and supplier Webasto, told Bloomberg.

What did JLR say?

On September 25, JLR said that some of its systems were back online, enabling it to work through a backlog of supplier invoices, accelerate parts distribution to dealers and speed up vehicle sales and registrations.

The company aims to restart some manufacturing operations on October 1, although it warned it will take some time before it can return to full speed.

Providing relief to the automotive sector will help ease some pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, as his ruling Labour Party gathers in Liverpool on September 28 for its annual conference, the report added.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)