Non-Resident Indians will now be able to book the popular range of Maruti vehicles in the Gulf states and receive their delivery at a place of their choice in Kerala.

Under a new scheme announced by Indus Motors, a leading dealer for Maruti in South India, in collaboration with the Bridgeway Group of Dubai, NRIs can book any Maruti model in Dubai and the vehicle will be delivered in Kerala, P V Abdul Wahab, chairman of the Kerala-based Indus Motors, said.

The Maruti-NRI scheme will be initially launched in Kerala, but will be extended to other states also as the demand increases, he told reporters, adding that the scheme will be introduced in Oman next week and in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain in about a month.

Maruti currently enjoys 65 per cent share in the passenger car market in Kerala.

There will not be any price advantage in terms of excise duty concessions for Maruti, Wahab said.

The Indus Motors would also start bookings through its Web site shortly for the NRIs and was considering plans to offer a raffle and other promotional schemes for the first 1,000 bookings.

Facing stiff competition from other manufacturers like Hyundai and Tatas, Maruti has set an ambitious target of 60 per cent share in the booming car market.

Maruti's cumulative sales for the financial year April 2002-February 2003 increased by 5.2 per cent at 4,73,921  cars against 4,50,289 units last year, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.