New Delhi: India’s auto industry soared to historic heights in January, recording its highest ever sales in a single month. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, total sales in the domestic market were over 1,114,000 units, against about 768,000 units in the same period last year, a jump of almost 45%. The earlier highest sales by the industry was in October 2006, at over a million units. Analysts say the increase was due in part to last year’s low base and reduced commodity prices.

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The State Bank of India has hinted that lending rates could possibly go up from the second quarter of the next fiscal year. Although money supply is under pressure, it said interest rates would remain stable in the immediate future. The RBI in its recent monetary policy review, asked banks to keep more cash with it, which will shrink the money supply by Rs36,000 crores.

Korean consumer durables company Samsung is aiming for sales of over Rs14,000 crores in India this year. This is a growth of 40% over last year when sales were at around Rs10,200 crores. Its competitor, LG, had a turnover of around Rs13,000 crores in 2009 and is targeting a turnover of Rs19,000 crore in 2010.

And markets closed marginally higher on Tuesday led mostly by global cues.The Sensex went up 107 points to close trade at 16,042 while the Nifty went up 32 points to end trade at 4,793.