For the third month in a row, the March sales of automobiles have been better-than-anticipated, bringing a reported 21.87 percent increase in the total sales of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) during the month. A year-on-year comparison between the sales figures for March indicates that the sales jumped from 70,296 units last year to 85,669 units.

Equally robust are the annual sales figures, which have surpassed the earlier highest annual sales of 2007-08 by 3.57 percent. While the annual sales in the previous fiscal year were 7,64,842 units; the 2008-09 fiscal set a new record high of 7,92,167 units.

The domestic sales of MSI - which registered more than double increase in its exports last month - increased by 14.64 percent, rising from same month earlier year figures of 64,421 units to 73,855 units.

Elated at the encouraging statistics, MSI said in a statement: "2008-09 marked Maruti Suzuki's Silver Jubilee year in India. Over these 25 years, the company sold over 70 lakh cars in the domestic market. Additionally, over five lakh cars have been exported world-over."

The CEO of car financier Kotak Mahindra Prime, Sumit Bali, said that overall this year, the performance has been better-than-expected, and March actually turned out to be a "bumper month," more so after a rather flat February!