Kainaz Amaria for The New York Times

The prospect of winning a Tata Nano city car is one of the incentives being used to attract Indians to a sterilization program in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, roughly 130 miles west of New Delhi.

While sterilization campaigns are not uncommon in this country of 1.2 billion people, offering prize incentives certainly is. Other gifts include cash, as well as “motorbikes and electric food blenders,” according to Britain’s The Independent, first among major Western media to report the scheme.

Debasis Ray, a spokesman for Tata Motors, said in an e-mail to Wheels that the automaker had been unaware of the program or the role its Nano was playing in the lottery.

“The Rajasthan initiative you are referring to — we are not sure whether it is a government or a private initiative – has got nothing to do with Tata Motors or its dealers,” Mr. Ray said. “We have not been aware whether this is being shown as endorsed by the company.” He promised that Tata Motors, one of the country’s largest automakers and the owner of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, would look into the matter.

In the summer of 2009, when the Nano first went on sale in India, the car was hailed as a breakthrough for the company and India’s transportation sector. With a price of about $2,200, and a jellybean-shape body roughly two feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, the four-door was reportedly the cheapest car in the world.

Sales have since stumbled, which has been attributed to rising fuel costs and interest rates, limited marketing of the car in rural India and questions about the Nano’s quality after widely reported engine fires. In July, according to data provided by Tata, Nano sales dropped to 3,260 units, a 64 percent slump from the same month last year.