Vehicle sales at India's biggest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, a unit of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, rocketed 45.8 per cent in April year-on year as a tax cut two months earlier continued to drive demand, data showed.

The government, which holds 45.54 per cent of Maruti, plans to unload 25 per cent of the carmaker through an initial public offer this financial year and sell the rest later. Japan's Suzuki holds 54.2 per cent of Maruti.

Its total sales had grown 19.9 per cent in March.

Maruti's combined domestic and foreign sales in April soared to 28,817 vehicles from 19,762 in the same month a year earlier, according to figures from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers released on Wednesday.

Domestic sales rocketed 30.9 per cent to 25,668 vehicles. Exports vaulted more than 18-fold to 3,149 vehicles from 157 in the year-ago month.

The budget in February cut excise duty or production tax on cars and utility vehicles to 24 per cent from 32 per cent, leading Maruti and other manufacturers to reduce prices by over five per cent. The price drops boosted industry sales by 15.2 per cent in March and by 28 per cent in April.

Maruti, which sells 11 models in India including cars, multi-purpose and utility vehicles, had a 50.8 per cent slice of the domestic car market in 2002-03 (April-March) thanks to its dominance of the small car segment.