India’s fuel sales rose in April as diesel demand grew on the back of a pick up in harvesting of Rabi crops and expansion of economic activity, preliminary industry data showed on Monday.
Demand for diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country accounting for about two-fifths of the demand, soared 6.7 per cent to 7.15 million tonnes in April compared to a year ago period.
Month-on-month sales rose 4.8 per cent when compared with 6.83 million tonnes of diesel consumed in March which witnessed a seasonal slowdown.
Petrol sales rose about 2.5 per cent to 2.64 million tonnes during April when compared with the same period of the last year. Sales, however, fell marginally by 0.5 per cent month-on-month, the data showed.
Petrol and diesel sales have been on the rise from the second half of March on the back of a pick up in industrial and agriculture activity. In the first half of March, petrol sales had fallen 1.4 per cent and diesel by 10.2 per cent year-on-year.
Consumption of petrol in April was 23.5 per cent more than COVID-marred April 2021 and more than double in the same period of 2020. Diesel consumption was up 21 per cent over April 2021.
With the continued opening of the aviation sector, India’s overall passenger traffic at airports inched closer to pre-COVID levels.
