Surging truck sales of Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors drove commercial vehicle sales up by 34.6 per cent during the first eight months of this fiscal.

A total of 153,000 buses and trucks were sold during April-November 2003 as against 114,000 units in the same period last year, data compiled the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed.

The sale of medium and heavy commercial vehicles, which comprises over 60 per cent of total industry sales, grew by 40 per cent to 93,369 units while that of light commercial vehicles jumped by 27.3 per cent to 60,190 units.

In the M&H category, truck sales went up by 43.2 per cent to 78,111 units, while bus sales grew 24.6 per cent to 15,258 units.

Light truck sales rose by 38.4 per cent to 47,901 units, but that of light buses declined by 2.7 per cent to 12,289 units.

Commercial vehicle sales, a good indicator of economic growth, have been rising this fiscal mainly due to the prime minister's ambitious national highway development project and rural road network.

Abundant rainfall coupled with forecast of higher agricultural production and positive sentiments also spurred demand.

In the medium and heavy duty truck segment, sale of Tata Motors surged by 40.5 per cent to 51,902 units and that of Ashok Leyland by 54.7 per cent to 19,594 units.

Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda's M&H truck sales also jumped by 29.6 and 77 per cent to 4,647 and 1,815 units, respectively.

But, sale of heavy duty truck makers, Tatra and Volvo, fell by 20 and 64.7 per cent to 72 and 81 units respectively.

In the heavy bus category, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland's sales surged by 31 and 12 per cent to 7,979 and 6,807 units, respectively.

New entrant Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda sold 265 and 102 units, respectively while that of Volvo went up by 69.3 per cent to 105 units.

In the light truck category, sales of Tata Motors jumped by 63 per cent to 25,030 units but that of Ashok Leyland dived by 61.5 per cent to 30 units.

Mahindra and Mahindra M&M) and Bajaj Tempo clocked a 26 and 76.8 per cent rise at 16,208 and 1,753 units, respectively.

Sales of Swaraj Mazda and Eicher Motors slipped by 10.7 and nearly one per cent to 2,494 and 2,216 units, respectively.

Hindustan Motors posted a 40.3 per cent dip to 170 units. In the light bus category, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland witnessed 10.4 and 195.5 per cent rise to 4,759 and 198 units, respectively.

Bajaj Tempo clocked a 66.6 per cent growth to 3,110 units but sales of Swaraj Mazda dipped 24 per cent to 1,150 units.

Sales of Eicher, M&M and Hindustan Motors declined by 27.5, 34.2 and 77.8 per cent to 787, 1,974 and 311 units, respectively.