大象传媒

The Labour peer who helped broker the deal that saw Indian firm Tata Motors buy Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) from Ford has said the Midlands company's recent profits are the "start of a great revival".

Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya has known the Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata, for many years. The peer was involved in the takeover talks at JLR in 2008.

The Indian carmaker made total profits after tax for the last 12 months of 92.7bn rupees ($2bn, 拢1.3bn), up 260% from a year earlier, thanks to a 33% rise in revenues to 1.2tn rupees.

Business at its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) subsidiary saw a sharp turnaround, with 拢1.1bn in profits before tax, having hardly broken even in the 2009-10 year.

Lord Bhattacharyya told the 大象传媒's Midlands Political Editor Patrick Burns that JLR's Indian owners see the firm as a "Midlands icon".