Tata Motors Eyes Defense Gold Mine

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tata Motors(TTM) is planning to sell off a stake in its financing unit as a means to repay debts, while eyeing a lucrative defense contract.

Tata's vice chairman Ravi Kant said the company is looking at various options for offloading the stake. The State Bank of India is reportedly interested in acquiring a 49% stake in Tata Motors Finance.

The head of Tata's commercial vehicle business Ravi Pisharody says that prices of the company's commercial vehicles could go up by 1% to 2% stemming from compliance with new emission rules.

Tata Motors is also bidding to supply 1,000 bulletproof vehicles to the Indian Army in a 3.5 billion rupee or roughly $76 million contract.

The potential value that officials have placed on the Indian defense market over a decade is $100 billion, according to Reuters. The government is currently permitting domestic companies to bid for large defense contracts, according to Reuters.

Tata Motors' American Depository Receipts (ADRs) have risen 2.4% to $15.50.

Other auto stocks are in mixed trading Tuesday morning.

Ford(F) is up 0.3% at $11.20, while Toyota(TM) has slipped 1.2% to $76.10.