New car sales in India rose for a third straight month in April, boosted by lower borrowing costs, increased rural demand and government stimulus measures.


Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that 102,899 cars were sold in April, up 4.2% year on year.


Job losses and wage cuts in the wake of the financial crisis along with tight financing conditions have dampened vehicle sales in India since mid-2008. However, the Indian government has cut taxes and the central bank slashed its key lending rate by 4.25 percentage points since last October to 4.75% to revive demand.


SIAM remains cautious but has forecast passenger vehicle sales in the current financial year to March 2010 to rise 3-5%.


Market leader Maruti Suzuki reported an 8.6% rise in sales in April to 56,221 while Hyundai’s India sales rose 3.5% to 22,241. Tata Motors’ sales remained unchanged from a year ago by it is expecting a sales boost in July when its Nano budget car goes on sale. The company has already received about INR25bn (US$500m) from the advance bookings of Nano and the first 100,000 owners are to be selected by a lottery.

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Sales of trucks and buses fell 11.3% in April to 29,842 units, continuing the downward trend although SIAM has forecast sales in that segment to rise 7% to 10% in 2009/10.