India's Tata Motors losses $54 million in quarter

Tata Motors lost 2.63 billion rupees ($54 million) last quarter as cost-cutting efforts failed to make up for withering demand, high commodities prices and foreign exchange losses, company officials said Friday.

A year earlier, the company posted a quarterly profit of 4.99 billion rupees.

"I do believe we had the worst" during the quarter, Managing Director Ravi Kant said. "We don't expect to see this kind of thing, I hope, in my lifetime. We are seeing signs of improvement which is sustainable."

Tata, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, said it sold 98,760 vehicles from October to December, down 31.7 percent from the same period last year, while revenues slipped 34.4 percent to 47.6 billion rupees ($977.9 million). MORE...