Tata Motors posts first loss in three years on weak JLR sales

(Reuters) - India's Tata Motors Ltd reported its first quarterly loss in nearly three years on Tuesday, as UK business Jaguar Land Rover sold fewer of its luxury cars to dealerships in China, while raw material costs rose.

The automaker said first-quarter net loss was 19.02 billion rupees ($277 million), compared with a profit of 31.82 billion rupees a year earlier that included a 36.09 billion rupee gain from changes to the way JLR's pension payments are calculated.

Dealers in China delayed purchases to benefit from an import duty cut that came into effect after the end of the reporting quarter, the automaker said, adding that planned dealer stock reduction in other markets also weighed on its business.

That resulted in a 6.7 percent drop in quarterly revenue for JLR, the company added.

Total expenses during April-June rose about 17 percent to 698.90 billion rupees.

JLR had said in April it would cut around 1,000 jobs and production at two of its English factories due to a fall in sales caused by uncertainty around Brexit and confusion over diesel policy.

Tata Motor shares closed 1.27 percent lower ahead of the results, compared to the broader Mumbai market that closed up 0.33 percent. ($1 = 68.5825 Indian rupees)

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton/Keith Weir)