Buoyed by the increase in sales after the launch of the small car Beat, along with the robust growth in the Indian automobile sector, car maker General Motors expects India to figure amongst its top ten markets globally by next year.

"I think by 2011, India should be among the top ten markets for General Motors globally... and I would be really surprised, if it doesn't happen...," General Motors(GM) China Group President and Managing Director Kevin E Wale said here.

As per the information available, in 2009, the total sales of the company in India stood at 69,579 units. However, with the launch of its global small car Beat it expects to achieve a sale of 100,000 units in the current year.

GM had launched Beat in the Indian market earlier this year during the Auto Expo and it is now the highest selling vehicle from its portfolio in the country.

Currently with the sale of over 2 million units, US is the largest market for the Detriot-based company followed by China at 1.8 million units.

The company expects that as the Indian automobile market is growing at a double digit rate, the country may soon enter into top ten markets globally by replacing Australia, which is at the 10th place with a sale of 1.2 lakh units.

Indian automobile industry has reported a growth of 26.41 per cent growth in sales in 2009-10 riding on the government's stimulus packages that perked demand, making it the second fastest growing market in the world after China.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had forecast 10-14 per cent growth for the industry during 2010-11.

According to the information provided by SIAM, the total Indian market for passenger cars in 2009-10 rose by over 25 per cent to 1.5 million units from 1.2 million units.

General Motors is operating in India for the last 13 years and it sell cars in the country under the Chevrolet brand, which was introduced in 2003.