Tata Steel says evaluating bids for UK asset sale

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Steel Ltd is evaluating bids for British assets it has put on sale, India's biggest steelmaker said on Wednesday, reporting a smaller fourth-quarter net loss of $478 million.

In March, Tata Steel said it wanted to sell its loss-making operation in Britain, putting 15,000 jobs at risk and highlighting the impact of cheap Chinese imports, high energy costs and a global supply glut.

Earlier on Wednesday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who is under pressure to save local jobs, said Tata had received an "encouraging number" of offers but also warned that there were no guarantees of a successful conclusion.

Tata Steel Group Executive Director Koushik Chatterjee told a news conference on Wednesday that the bid deadline was last Monday, but did not comment on the bidders or the timeline of a sale.

Tata Steel posted a consolidated net loss of 32.14 billion rupees ($478 million) for the three months to March, compared with 56.74 billion rupees a year earlier.

Net sales during the fourth fiscal quarter fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier to 291.6 billion rupees.

($1 = 67.2962 rupees)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, writing by Himank Sharma; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)