March passenger car sales in India leapt 20 percent to 155,600 units from a year ago, while in neighboring China they soared 63.2 percent to 1.26 million units over the same period.
"Underlying strong economic growth in both countries is really pushing the markets," Paul Newton at London-based IHS Global Insight told AFP.
Global automakers have been steering to China and India, the world's two fastest-growing major economies, as sales in most developed countries slumped in the fallout of the global financial crisis.
Government stimulus packages in both Asian nations, along with cheap financing and new model launches have helped drive demand among increasingly well-off consumers.
India's total domestic passenger car sales for the fiscal year which ended in March climbed by 25 percent to 1.53 million units from the previous 12-month period, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
But India's performance is dwarfed by Chinese sales which soared more than 45 percent last year to 13.64 million units even as many other markets in the world posted negative growth.
The Chinese data for March released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers came as the country's biggest automaker, SAIC Motor, forecast first-quarter net profit would leap by more than 300 percent year-on-year, according to the state-run People's Daily Online.
But in both India and China, analysts say rising raw material costs pose worries for the sector. Iron ore producers have been raising prices steeply, pushing up the cost of steel - a key vehicle component.
