Tata results point to slowdown at Jaguar Profits at Tata Motors more than halved as heavy investment in its UK-based luxury Jaguar Land Rover division combined with another dismal quarter for the group's lossmaking Indian operations to undercut earnings. The Mumbai-based automaker reported after-tax profits well below expectations at Rs16.3bn ($300m), a 52 per cent fall from the same period the year before, and its first decline since 2011. Shares in Tata Motors fell sharply last month following an unexpected profit warning at JLR, which Tata Motors bought in 2008, and whose strong sales in emerging markets have contributed nearly all of the group's earnings in recent years. JLR has also provided a success story for Britain's car industry, with factories working 24-hour shifts to meet rising demand for its products in emerging markets such as Russia and China. But Thursday's figures confirmed that this period of impressive performance may be coming to an end. The company's increasing investment has begun to dent earnings, and quarterly after-tax profits fell 24 per cent to £296m. The ailing Indian division also contributed to the reversal, with quarterly losses more than two and half times larger than last year, against a backdrop of India's slowing economy. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Karl Slym, Tata Motors managing director, said: "The results you are seeing [in India] are made much worse because of some of the activities we are taking to clean ourselves up, and make ourselves a lean and mean machine again." "It looks like a very bad quarter for Tata Motors," says Deepesh Rathore, managing director of IHS Automotive in India. JLR's revenue growth has been flat, which is a cause of concern given how much the group relies on JLR for its profits, while Tata Motors in India are still suffering from a reputation for poor-quality products and weak after-sales service. Indian carmakers have been hit by a slump in demand this year, with the Society of Indian Automakers, a trade group, suggesting the once fast-growing market for passenger cars will contract during this financial year. Tata has been especially badly hit, as customers turn away from its products, and it is attempting to respond by clearing out stock, refitting showrooms and updating its models. The group nonetheless reported its largest sales drop for more than three years during January, while it has also been overtaken by rival Mahindra & Mahindra for the third-place sales spot in India's passenger vehicle sector. C Ramakrishnan, Tata's chief financial officer, warned that he saw no let-up in the tough domestic conditions, saying that "overall demand continues to remain under pressure." JLR by contrast reported strong sales figures for January earlier this week, sending the group's shares up nearly 5 per cent on Wednesday, while sales have risen by more than half so far this year in China, its leading national market. Tata Motors reported overall revenues up 1.8 per cent at Rs461bn in the third quarter compared with last year, while the group's shares closed down 2.6 per cent in Mumbai before the results announcement, at Rs296.7.