Tata Motors has bought time in its efforts to refinance the $3bn of short-term debt it borrowed to buy Britain’s Land Rover and Jaguar marques through an innovative scheme to sell its new car, the Nano.

India’s largest automotive group said it had received 203,000 pre-paid orders worth Rs25bn ($507m) for the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, which it put on sale for a 16-day booking period which ended on April 25.