The lion population in the forests of Gir grew because of efforts by the state government to protect the endangered species, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said.

The last census at the 1,450-square kilometre (560-square-mile) forest, which is also home to leopards, hyenas and exotic reptiles, was in 2001.

"The census was carried out by experts using scientific means," Modi said, adding the count lasted almost a month and was conducted on foot by more than 1,000 foresters and local volunteers.

A wildlife official in Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad said: "The headcount reveals that Gir sanctuary, despite the migration tendencies showed by the big cats, houses 89 male lions, 124 lionesses and 146 cubs."

The census follows growing criticism that limestone mining in the area and visits by about 10,000 people annually had devastated the protected habitat, and the Asiatic Lion Information Centre questioned the accuracy of the survey.

On its website, the centre said the accuracy of the counting technique had been questioned and substantially reliable results would not be obtained until individual lions are marked.

The centre, which runs a fund for Asiatic lion research in the Gir forest, estimates the lion population at 202, using radio-telemetry studies of the lions' roaming range.

The number of Asiatic lions plummetted from around 1,000 a century ago to just 20 in 1913 but creation of the Gir sanctuary after independence in 1947 helped revive the population.

The depiction of the Asiatic lion eventually became the symbol for the modern Republic of India.

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