Tata Motors Q3 net profit halves, JLR margin sags

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Carmaker Tata Motors Ltd posted its first fall in profit for 15 months as margins at its key Jaguar Land Rover Ltd (JLR) unit fell, and its domestic business reported a loss on plunging sales.

Tata, Asia's seventh-biggest carmaker by market value, fell far below market estimates with net profit for the October-December quarter of 16.28 billion Indian rupees, down 52 percent from a year ago and the first fall since the three months to September 2011.

Analysts had expected average profit of 28.9 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.

British luxury carmaker JLR, whose soaring profits have propped up its weaker parent for the past 18 months, said its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin was 14 percent during the quarter, down from 17 percent a year ago.

Tata's core Indian business posted a loss of 4.58 billion rupees, the company said in a statement on Thursday, against profit of 1.74 billion in the same period last year.

(Reporting by Henry Foy; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)