India's top vehicle maker Tata Motors on Thursday reported a nearly fourfold increase in annual profit, boosted by booming sales and strong demand for British brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Net profit was 92.7 billion rupees ($2.04 billion) for the year to the end of March 2011, up from 25.7 billion rupees in the previous year, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Overall sales were up 24.2 percent at nearly 1.1 million units, while consolidated revenue jumped from 925.19 billion rupees in 2009-10 to 1.26 trillion rupees in the last financial year. Sales of Jaguar Land Rover models increased from 193,982 to 243,621 in the same period, with the company reporting strong growth in China. Net revenue for the brands was 9.91 billion pounds (16 billion dollars) and net profit 1.04 billion pounds. Tata Motors, part of the tea-to-steel Tata Group conglomerate, is due to inaugurate its first assembly plant in India for Jaguar Land Rover cars on Friday.