New Delhi, Dec 25: Hero Honda Motors, the country's largest motorcycle maker, is likely to post about 16 per cent growth in sales this fiscal ending March 31, 2004 at 1.95 million units due to heavy rural buying after a good monsoon and buoyant demand in the festival season. Sales during the October-December quarter are expected to grow by about 20 per cent to 5.6-5.7 lakh units, a top company official told.

He said sales in December 2003 was likely to jump 26 per cent to 1.55 lakh Units from 1.22 lakh Units sold in the same month last year. "The sales during the festival season have been very good this year," the official said.

During April-November 2003, Hero Honda's sales grew by 13 per cent to 1.29 million units. Its sales had grown by 18 per cent during 2002-03 to 1.67 million units.

As against this, sales during 2001-02 increased by 38 per cent while in 2000-01, it was 35 per cent. The company's marketshare, however, slipped from a high of 48 per cent in 2001-02 to 44 per cent in 2002-03. Bureau Report