The increase in bus and truck sales of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland pushed commercial vehicle sales up by a robust 35.7 per cent in the first eleven months of this fiscal.

A total of 229,000 buses and trucks were sold during April-February 2003-04 while 168,000 units were sold during the same period last year, a data compiled by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers revealed.

The sale of medium and heavy buses and trucks grew by 39.2 per cent to 141,000 units while that of light commercial vehicles jumped by 30.4 per cent to 87,567 units.

In the M&H segment, bus sales surged by 42 per cent to 119,000 units while that of heavy buses rose by 25.8 per cent to 21,668 units.

Sales of light trucks went up 40.6 per cent to 70,788 units while that of light buses posted a marginal 0.19 per cent dip to 16,779 units.

Commercial vehicle sales, one of the yardsticks to gauge economic growth, has been on a northward drive since the last couple of months .

A spurt in infrastructure sector, rapid progress on different highway projects, including the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral and periodical fleet replacement cycle had contributed to the growth, analysts said.

Bountiful rain and sustained focus on infrastructure would continue to accelerate commercial vehicle sales, they said.

M&H truck sales of Tata Motors, India's biggest bus and truck maker, registered a 41 per cent rise to 79,961 units.

In the M&H truck category, Ashok Leyland, the country's second-biggest commercial vehicle maker, posted a 44.2 per cent sales growth to 29,090 units.

Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda registered 37.2 and 79 per cent rise to 7,492 and 3,007 units, respectively.

Sales of the Indian arm of Tata Trucks slipped 18 per cent to 113 units while that of the local unit of Swedish truck manufacturer Volvo skidded by four per cent to 171 units.

M&H bus sales of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland surged by 27.8 and 15.2 per cent to 11,019 and 9,811 units, respectively.

Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda sold 392 and 276 heavy buses respectively while Volvo India posted an 88.8 per cent jump to 170 units.

Light truck sales of Tata Motors grew 60.8 per cent to 37,041 units while Ashok Leyland suffered a loss of 70.2 per cent to 36 units.

Mahindra and Mahindra sold 23,847 units, a rise of 33 per cent while Eicher saw a rise of 9.63 per cent to 3,549 units.

Bajaj Tempo registered a 65.1 per cent rise to 2,585 while Hindustan Motors posted a decline of 41.1 per cent to 209 units.

Light bus sales of Tata Motors jumped 10.6 per cent to 6,461 while Ashok Leyland logged 59.3 per cent growth to 239 units.

Bajaj Tempo registered a rise of 39.5 to 4,367 units but M&M posted a loss of 31.8 per cent to 2,528 units.

Sales of Swaraj Mazda grew 41.6 per cent to 1,705 units while that of Eicher Motors dipped by 14.1 per cent to 1,056 units.