Maruti expects FY16 car sales to grow more than 5-6 percent

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki Ltd, India's top selling car maker, expects car sales to grow at a faster pace than the forecast of 5-6 percent growth for the industry in the fiscal year that started on April 1, a company executive told Reuters.

Maruti Suzuki, which sells about one in every two cars in India, reported its best-ever annual sales in the year to end-March but is yet to see a strong recovery in the passenger car market, executive director, R.S. Kalsi, said on Wednesday.

Sales growth in the 2014/2015 fiscal year was mainly helped by new product launches, an expansion of its dealer network and discounts, Kalsi said.

Maruti Suzuki sold 1.29 million passenger vehicles in the fiscal year ended March 31 - a 12 percent increase from a year ago and higher than its previous peak of 1.27 million in the year 2010/2011.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Sunil Nair)