India's top vehicle company Tata Motors said Friday its domestic operations swung to a third-quarter profit from a loss a year earlier as demand for cars rose, aided by new launches. The company, which makes cars and trucks, reported a net profit of four billion rupees (86 million dollars) for the three months to December, compared with a net loss of 2.63 billion rupees a year earlier.

The earnings did not include data for British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover, which Tata Motors bought from ailing Ford Motor Co for 2.3 billion dollars in March 2008. The performance was slightly below market expectations. Analysts had expected Tata Motors to post a profit of close to 4.3 billion rupees.

Tata Motors revenues jumped nearly 90 percent to 89.29 billion rupees for the quarter, a company statement said. "Introduction of new products and strong sustained growth in the existing portfolio, along with government stimulus has driven domestic demand revival," the company said in a statement. India's large automakers have seen a revival in sales in recent months on improved consumer demand, government stimulus packages and fresh launches.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010