CAR SALES in India rose 30.8 per cent in June from a year earlier, underlining strong expansion in the nation’s industrial sector, data showed yesterday.

In June, car sales reached 141,184 units against 107,948 a year ago, while sales of trucks and buses grew 44 per cent to 52,211 units, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

Car sales have been robust in Asia’s third-largest automobile market in recent months, driven by new models, government stimulus efforts and generally rising incomes.

The government introduced stimulus steps in 2009 to assist the economy after demand for cars fell in 2008 due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

Analysts forecast car sales to slow down in coming months due to rising fuel prices and more costly auto loans as a result of higher interest rates.

Asia’s third-largest economy grew by a better than expected 7.4 per cent in the financial year ended March 2010 and is projected to grow by 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal year to March 2011.

The Indian auto market is forecast to triple over the next decade to six million cars a year from the current two million.