Indian automobile industry has received a much-needed boost from the festive season, figures released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show.

According to SIAM, sales of automobiles jumped 15 per cent in October this year over the corresponding month of previous year. Car sales jumped 23 per cent, from 1.40 lakh units to 1.72 lakh units over the same period. It was the biggest rate of increase since January last year.

During April-October this year, the production grew only 4.12 per cent year-on-year. But in October alone, the industry produced 1,829,490 units, which represents an increase of 15 per cent from 1,596,500 units produced in the same month of 2011.

Passenger vehicles segment recorded a growth of around 11 per cent during April to October quarter of this year over same period of previous year. But in October alone, total sales of passenger vehicles jumped more than 33 per cent over same month of previous year.

However, the industry is still cautious about sales in the coming months. Vishnu Mathur, director-general of SIAM, “Next month will be quite critical for us. We'll have to see whether this growth is continuing or it is coming down.”

Rakesh Srivastava, Vice President (marketing & sales) at Hyundai India, said that the combination of inflation, high fuel prices and interest rates would make it difficult for them to convert customers’ interest into sales.