Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) and its rival Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) have reported marginal year-on-year increase in their May sales.

HMCL on Monday announced that its sales jumped to 557,890 units in May 2013, from 556,644 units in the corresponding month of the previous year. Though the figures represent only a marginal increase of 0.22 per cent, it was the company’s highest-ever sales for any single month.

Anil Dua, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Sales at HMCL, said, “The demand momentum that we had seen on our product range in April continued in May as well, helping us achieve over 1.1 million retail sales in the two-month period.”

HMCL also announced its plans to increase warranty on motorcycles and scooters to five years or 70,000 km and five years or 50,000 km, respectively, whichever is earlier.

In addition, Hero announced the launch of its own retail finance arm called Hero FinCorp in Delhi. The finance arm will be extended to around 450 dealerships across the country by March 2015.

In May, Hero also made a foray into several new international markets, including Central America, Honduras and El Salvador.

BAL said that its domestic sales jumped from 206,751 units in May 2012 to 212,129 units in 2013. But, BAL’s overall sales including exports slipped 5 per cent year-on-year to settle at 304,780 units.