India's Tata Motors March sales up 6 pct on year

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research)(TTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), India's top bus and truck maker, said on Tuesday vehicle sales in March rose 6 percent to 66,495 units -- its highest monthly sales so far -- from 62,779 units a year earlier.

Tata Motors, which last week announced a $2.3 billion deal to buy Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said sales of commercial vehicles rose 17 percent to 35,993 units from 30,720 units a year earlier.

Sales of cars and utility vehicles fell 4 percent to 24,737 units from 25,760 units a year earlier, while exports fell 9 percent to 5,765 vehicles from 6,299 units.

Tata's vehicle sales in the fiscal year to March rose 1 percent to 582,401 units from 578,862 units the previous year. Sales of commercial vehicles rose 5 percent to 313,371 units, while passenger vehicle sales fell 5 percent to 214,758 units.

(Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)