Jaguar Land Rover Receives UK Guarantee For Rs 15,567 Crore Loan
The move is designed to bolster JLR’s cash reserves and ensure that thousands of smaller suppliers, many of them SMEs, are able to weather the disruption.
The UK government on Sunday has announced a support package for Jaguar Land Rover, providing a loan guarantee expected to unlock up to 1.5 billion Euros (Rs 15,567 crore) in finance to stabilise the company’s supply chain following a recent cyber-attack that forced production to halt.
Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle confirmed that the funding, backed by the Export Development Guarantee (EDG) scheme from UK Export Finance, will enable JLR to access a five-year loan from a commercial bank. The move is designed to bolster JLR’s cash reserves and ensure that thousands of smaller suppliers, many of them SMEs, are able to weather the disruption.
Kyle said the cyber-attack was not just an assault on “an iconic British brand” but also on the wider automotive sector. “This loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK,” he noted, adding that the intervention was part of the government’s Plan for Change and its modern Industrial Strategy.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves described JLR as “a jewel in the crown of our economy,” highlighting its role as one of the UK’s largest exporters and a direct employer of 34,000 people. “Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to 1.5 billion Euro in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry,” she said.
With manufacturing bases in Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Halewood, JLR underpins a vast supply chain employing around 120,000 people across the UK. The government’s backing comes after Kyle and Industry Minister visited JLR’s Gaydon headquarters and its supplier Webasto earlier this week to discuss the impact of the shutdown.
The loan guarantee is the latest in a series of government measures aimed at strengthening the automotive sector. Recent initiatives include securing trade deals with India and the US, introducing an Electric Car Grant to encourage the shift to zero-emission vehicles, reducing industrial electricity costs, and committing 2.5 billion Euro in capital and R&D funding for the sector through 2035.
