Tata Motors posts consolidated quarterly profit - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Tata Motors surprisingly posted a consolidated profit for the September quarter, helped by tighter control of costs and gains from investments in associate firms. Tata Motors, the owner of UK-based Jaguar and Land Rover brands, on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of 217.8 million rupees ($4.7 million) for second fiscal quarter that ended in September. "Any automobile company XYZ including JLR will have to reduce its breakeven point to be competitive and to survive and to not get buffeted by these kind of downturns which keep happening in the auto industry. This is a long term sustainable strategy which would call for a reduction in breakeven point," said Ravi Kant, the Vice Chairman of Tata Motors. Earlier in the year, the company posted a consolidated net loss of 9.2 billion rupees. The firm had reported a net loss from ordinary activities of 21.5 million rupees. In October 2009, Tata Motors reported a standalone net profit for its Indian operations, which have about 60 percent of the world's fifth-biggest truck and bus market, of 7.29 billion rupees.