Demand slump: Tata Motors may shut Pune unit for 6 days

NEW DELHI: A day after it announced plans to briefly shut down its heavy commercial vehicles plant in Jamshedpur, Tata Motors appeared to be mulling similar closure of its passenger vehicle plant in Pune. "Production will match demand" is all that a Tata Motors spokesperson had to say when asked about reports that the Pune facility would be shut down from November 22-27. He however, neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, had yesterday announced shutting down its Jamshedpur unit, the mother plant for its heavy commercial vehicles, for three days due to slump in demand.
"Tata Motors is taking a block closure at Jamshedpur from November 6 to November 8, 2008, to match production with demand of vehicles produced at the Jamshedpur plant to avoid build-up of inventory either in the company or with our dealers," the company spokesperson had said yesterday.

Tata Motors net up 22 pc, despite sales drop

NEW DELHI: Country's largest automobile manufacturer Tata Motors Ltd said on Tuesday its net profit in the April-June period rose 22 per cent from a year ago, despite a drop in sales of cars and trucks.

Tata's net profit grew to Rs 4.7 billion in the fiscal first quarter from Rs 3.8 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

Revenue from sales was estimated at Rs 60.1 billion, up 5.3 per cent from a year ago.

Profit grew faster than sales, because of a foreign exchange gain of about Rs 2 billion. The company gained from the weakening of the US dollar against currencies in markets that buy Tata products.

Tata sells cars, buses, trucks and utility vehicles in Africa, the Middle East, and in Asia and Australia.

Unit sales totaled 128,095 vehicles in the April-June quarter, up just 1 per cent from a year.

Read more at Economic Times