New Delhi, May 18: General Motors will stop selling cars in India from the end of this year to improve its bottom line.

The Detroit-based auto maker used to sell the Chevrolet brand of cars here and had a less than 1 per cent share in the domestic passenger car market estimated at around 3 million units a year.

General Motors' move comes at a time the Indian auto market is expanding at a steady pace and is forecast to cross the 5-million-a-year mark by 2020.

However, GM will continue to produce cars at its Talegaon factory in Maharashtra for exports.

Sources said the move would impact about 8 per cent of the company's 6,000 jobs in India.

GM's exports from India - mainly to Mexico and Latin America - nearly doubled to 70,969 vehicles during the fiscal ended March 31. The Talegaon plant has an annual capacity of 130,000 vehicles.

The move also scuppers the company's 2015 plan to invest $1 billion in India to deploy newly-designed vehicle architecture as part of a global emerging market (GEM) programme.

Under the programme, GM planned to build a new line of low-cost cars for markets such as India and China.

"The car maker also realised that its GEM architecture would have produced cars at a price point which would have been difficult for it to sell in India. GM's other alternative was to tie up with an Indian manufacturer and bring in cars exclusively for the Indian market, but they decided against that option," said auto analyst Sudipto Bose.

General Motors announced the scrapping of India sales as part of a global re-strategising plan.

In April, it had announced that it will stop production at its Halol facility.

Sources said General Motors was in talks with Chinese firm SAIC Motor Corp to sell its Halol plant.

GM also announced it would sell its South Africa manufacturing to Isuzu Motors. GM's Chevrolet brand will be phased out of both markets by the end of 2017, the company said.

"As the industry continues to change, we are transforming our business, establishing GM as a more focused and disciplined company," said company's chairman and chief executive Mary Barra in a statement.

GM is the third-largest car producer in the world. It sold around 10 million cars in 2016.