Corrected - Tata Motors Q3 profit down 26 pct, misses estimates

(Corrects consolidated sales growth in the last paragraph)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd , India's biggest automaker by revenue, posted a 25.5 percent fall in quarterly net profit, missing analyst estimates, weighed down by losses in its India business as vehicle sales fell.

Tata Motors, part of the $100 billion Tata conglomerate, said on Thursday consolidated net profit in the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell to 35.81 billion rupees ($579.91 million) compared with 48.05 billion rupees a year ago.

Analysts had expected, on average, profit of 49.24 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Consolidated sales rose 8.6 percent to 699.42 billion rupees.

 

($1 = 61.7514 rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee)