Tata Motors Ltd, India's largest vehicle maker, reported a sharp jump in quarterly net profit, beating forecasts, on improved margins from lower input prices, recovery in volumes and aided by lower foreign exchange losses.
Tata Motors, which owns the luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands and also builds the Nano, the world's cheapest car, reported a net profit of 7.29 billion rupees ($156.4 million) in the quarter to September, from 3.47 billion rupees a year earlier.
A Reuters poll of 11 brokerages forecast net profit to rise nearly a fourth to 4.3 billion rupees on net sales of 76.8 billion rupees.
Revenues rose 13 percent to 79.79 billion rupees as sales in the crucial Indian festive season bounced back from a weak year ago period, when the global financial crisis was taking hold.
The figures are standalone and do not include earnings of its British units, Jaguar and Land Rover.
After a dismal 2008/09, sales of vehicles are picking up again in India with lower interest rates and improved consumer sentiment. Industry-wide sales are expected to grow by double-digits in the year to end March -- one of the few bright spots in a global industry struggling to emerge from its worst ever downturn.
Shares in Tata Motors, worth about $5.7 billion, more than doubled in the September quarter, outperforming a 18 percent rise in the main index .BSESN and a 46 percent rise in the sector index.
