Indian diesel sales registered the first year-on-year gain since the nation imposed a complete lockdown at the end of March as demand for the country’s most-consumed fuel climbed ahead of annual festivals.
Sales by India’s top three fuel retailers rose 8.8 per cent from a year earlier during the first half of October to 2.65 million tons, according to preliminary figures from officials with direct knowledge of the matter. Volumes sold were also 24 per cent higher than the same period in September, the data showed.
It’s the first year-on-year gain for the first half of a month since Bloomberg started compiling the figures in April at the peak of the virus-driven demand crash. February was the last monthly increase.
