NEW DELHI

Total sales rose to 109,743 cars in the month from 95,649 a year earlier, Japanese-owned Maruti said in a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange.

Passenger and commercial vehicle sales have been on the rise as India recovers rapidly from the global downturn and the country's middle class enjoys increasing affluence.

TVS Motor, India's third largest maker of motorcycles and scooters, said its total sales rose 30 percent to 165,152 units, from a year earlier.

The figures come as car makers raise the prices of their vehicles to offset increased costs of raw materials such as steel and rubber.

But despite the increases, analysts see sales remaining strong.

Car sales for the fiscal year to March 31 are forecast to grow by at least 25 percent -- far higher than an initial forecast of 12-13 percent growth, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

With just one in 10 households in urban areas owning a car and one in 50 in rural areas, India remains an under-penetrated, alluring market, drawing manufacturers from General Motors to Ford and Renault.