Tata Motors Q4 net down marginally, hit by forex loss

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd , India's biggest automaker by revenue, reported a marginal drop in fourth-quarter net profit, hit by a foreign exchange loss as strong sales of its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles continue to offset lean times at home.

Tata Motors said net profit for the January-March quarter was 39.18 billion rupees ($665.48 million), down 0.7 percent from the same time the year before, with net sales up 16 percent to 647.16 billion rupees.

Analysts had on average expected a profit of 46.37 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.

The company reported a foreign exchange loss of 3.55 billion rupees.

 

($1 = 58.8750 rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Matt Driskill and Subhranshu Sahu)