Several car makers in India are now offering attractive discounts towards the end of the year in order to improve sales in the country.

Manufacturers are offering rebates on petrol and some diesel models to sell the stock of older models before the new year. Car sales have fallen in the country by 3.53% to 1.2 million units in the April-November period compared to the same period of 2010.

The sales have been falling because of the rising cost of fuel as well as high interest rates on financing loans for buying cars for customers. Industry lobby Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) has said that the outlook for the industry is grim as the interest rates remain high.

Maruti Suzuki India has been offering higher discount rates than last year. The country’s largest automaker has seen its production fall drastically this year by17% in the domestic market to 607,417 units due to the labor unrest in its plans in Haryana.

Dealers for the company said that it is offering 10 per cent more discount than 2010. Maruti is offering cash discounts on various models including the Alto, the WagonR, the Estilo and the A-Star.

Arvind Saxena, head of sales and marketing at Hyundai Motor India said that rebates have moved up by 7-8% in the month compared to October and November. The company is offering Rs. 50,000 as rebate on i10 and Santro car models.

Tata Motors is also offering rebates on its diesel and petrol models including Rs. 10,000-15,000 across the model line-up.