BENGALURU: India’s Tata Motors Ltd posted a bigger first-quarter loss on Wednesday as higher raw material prices and a supply crunch raised its costs.

Automakers globally have increased prices to offset higher costs that have squeezed profit margins in a sector that has been striving to recover from a pandemic-induced slump.

Tata Motors has raised prices of both commercial and passenger vehicles twice since April, after increasing them four times in fiscal year 2022.

Still, high costs pinched the company with a 26% jump in the cost of materials.

“We expect demand to remain strong despite worries on inflation and geo-political risks while the supply situation is expected to improve further,” the company said in a statement.

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The Jaguar Land Rover parent reported a consolidated net loss of 50.07 billion rupees ($626.88 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of 44.51 billion rupees a year earlier.

Total revenue from operations rose 8.3% to 719.35 billion rupees.

Rival Maruti Suzuki India said earlier in the day that rising raw material costs had eaten into its margins despite more sales at higher prices.