Tata Motors’ consolidated profit for the quarter ended December 31 crashed 96 per cent to ₹112 crore from ₹2,953 crore last year with sales dropping in the commercial vehicle segment, and margins shrinking by over 5 per cent in the Jaguar Land Rover division.

The company’s consolidated sales during the third quarter were down 2.2 per cent at ₹67,864.95 crore against ₹69,398 crore in the year-ago period.

On a standalone basis, Tata Motors’ losses after tax widened to ₹1,046 crore in the quarter from ₹137 crore a year ago.

CEO Guenter Butschek, calling the results disappointing, said things are expected to improve in the fourth quarter. “We have hit the road to recovery. But, unfortunately, we faced lots of headwinds in Q3.”

Revenues (net of excise) of standalone business (including joint operations) for the quarter under review stood at ₹10,167 crore against ₹10,019 crore, up 1.47 per cent.

The hardest hit was JLR, where margins declined by 5.1 per cent. JLR posted a revenue of £6,537 million compared with £5,781 million — up 13.1 per cent. However, profit after tax (PAT) for the division was down 62 per cent to £167 million for the third quarter compared with £440 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The company attributed this to unfavourable variable marketing expenses, higher model launch costs, forex losses. “Keeping the forex losses aside, our margins for JLR would’ve been about 10.2 per cent for the quarter,” said Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan, CFO, Tata Motors.

“We expect Q4 to be much stronger. But for the full year, we expect growth in the commercial vehicle division to be flat, considering softness in demand,” Ramakrishnan said.

The company’s scrip closed at ₹468.30, down 7.34 per cent, on the BSE.

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