As the excise duty cut for small cars spurred demand, market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd on Monday reported a 15.7 per cent increase in total sales at 63,196 units in March, a month that also saw revival of demand for the popular 'M800' model.

The company's sales in March last year stood at 54,613 units and an eight per cent excise duty cut, which resulted in immediate price cuts on small cars, helped perk up the demand by double digit.

For the year ended March 31, 2006, the company registered total sales of 5,61,822 units (including exports) as against 5,36,301 units in the previous fiscal, a growth of 4.8 per cent.

In March, the company sold a total of 61,141 vehicles in the domestic market, with its best-selling model 'Alto' clocking 17,908 units, 'WagonR' 10,843 units and 'Swift' 6,651 units.

The M800, which has been witnessing a decline in demand following the rising popularity of the Alto, seemed to have benefited the maximum from the duty cut as it managed 10,937 units (10,252) in the month at a growth of 6.7 per cent.

Exports during March, however, continued to slide as they fell 47 per cent at 2,055 units against 3,920 units in the corresponding year. In fact the company's exports have been on the negative for a long time and have dipped 28.9 per cent for the year ended March 31 at 34,784 units against 48,899 units.

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