India's biggest motorcycle maker Hero Honda Motors said on Monday that it would roll out a number of variants of its bikes soon and is expecting double digit sales growth this fiscal.

"We are going to launch versions of motorcycles in the executive segment either this month itself or next month. We will post double digit (10-20 per cent) sales rise this year," Hero Honda Motors managing director Pawan Kant Munjal said in New Delhi.

Asked if the company would phase out motorcycles like Splendor or Passion once their upgrades hit the road, he said, "That depends entirely on customer demand".

He said the sales would start picking up from this month as monsoon has been very good and sentiment is upbeat but there would be pressure on margins.

The company has earmarked Rs 80-100 crore (Rs 800million – Rs 1 billion) for product development and expansion.

Asked if there would be any price hike due to rising costs of inputs, mainly steel, Munjal said, "We are absorbing the price as far as possible and we have always been working on cost optimisation."

Talking about the company's entry-level motorcycles -- CD Dawn, CD100, and CD100SS -- he said the combined sales of Hero Honda's motorcycles in commuter category has gone up significantly.

The feasibility study to set up the third plant would be out by the year-end, Munjal said.

The company had put its plans for setting up the third plant on the backburner as motorcycle sales decelerated during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

The two existing plants (in Haryana) of the company were producing 2.2 million motorcycles, which could go up to 2.4 million units, Munjal said.

Motorcycle sales, which went into overdrive during the better part of 2002-03, hit a speed breaker towards the end of the year, mainly due to deficient monsoon, petrol price hike and the Value Added Tax regime imbroglio.