"Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, has agreed to inject 'tens of millions' of pounds into the British car company to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis, while the government continues to consider the case for a taxpayer- funded bail out," the Financial Times has reported.

Jaguar Land Rover has been reportedly seeking financial assistance from the government to the tune of one billion pounds in the wake of sharp fall in sales and credit crisis.

Further, the car maker's chief David Smith has cautioned of thousands of job losses unless it receives emergency aid.

Tatas are striving to raise over Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion), on top of Rs 13,000 crore it got from sale of equity in a telecom arm. The group plans to mobilise the resources through public offer of debt securities, sale of Tata Motors' [Get Quote] vehicle loan pool, private equity placement and soliciting public deposits.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times in its report published online on Sunday noted that the cash injection from Tatas has bought ministers breathing space to respond to demands for multi-billion pound loan guarantees from the car sector.

Quoting a government insider, the daily said, "They (Tata) have managed to solve the immediate difficulties so may be they can resolve some others as well."

Last week, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had said the government does not have "an open cheque book" for ailing private companies and Tatas have the "first responsibility" to ensure the survival of the luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover.

According to the Financial Times, Mandelson is considering whether "Jaguar Land Rover still needs government backing to get through the recession or whether Tata can be called on for further cash support".

However, the report pointed out that Mandelson is understood to be sympathetic to the argument that Jaguar Land Rover could be an exception to his "no open cheque book" rule for distressed companies, not least because of its heavy research and development investment in the UK.

Jaguar Land Rover has about 15,000 employees in the UK. The Financial Times said that Mandelson this weekend reiterated that the state had to be a "lender of last resort" only after Tata has looked to its own resources.

"Any state support to Jaguar Land Rover would be conditional on the due diligence on the Indian parent being conducted by the government's City advisers," the report said quoting officials.

The daily, attributing to people close to Tatas, said the the emergency aid to Jaguar Land Rover came on top of "hundreds of millions" of working capital it had provided since it bought the carmaker for $2.3 billion from Ford in March this year.

The company, along with the rest of the sector, has been hit by a sharp drop in sales and the credit crunch.

"Tata is understood to be adamant that its support for its UK car subsidiary does not negate its argument that the government should provide bridging loans and credit guarantees to the company and the British car sector as a whole," the report noted.