India's fuel consumption fell 0.6per cent year-on-year in March, but demand for the 2024 financial year was up about 5per cent, primarily driven by higher automotive fuel and naphtha sales, reports Reuters.
Total consumption, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 21.09 million metric tons (4.99 million barrels per day) in March, down from 21.22 million tons (5.02 mbpd) last year, preliminary data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Saturday.
However, fuel demand for the 2024 financial year, ending in March, hit a record high of 233.276 million tons (4.67 mbpd) compared to 223.021 million tons (4.48 mbpd) a year earlier.
Sales of diesel, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, rose 3.1per cent year-on-year to 8.04 million tons in March and was up 4.4per cent for the previous fiscal year.
Sales of gasoline in March rose 6.9per cent year-on-year to 3.32 million tons and were up 6.4per cent for the fiscal year.
Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were largely steady in March, but were up 9.9per cent for the fiscal year.
Sales of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas, rose 8.6per cent to 2.61 million tons, while naphtha sales jumped 5.5per cent to about 1.19 million tons, compared with last March, the data showed.
The usage of fuel oil fell 9.7per cent year-on-year in March and declined 6.3per cent for the fiscal year.
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