India’s fuel demand hits nine-month high in December

NEW DELHI: India’s fuel demand reached a nine-month high in December, helped by strong industrial activity and a rise in gasoline consumption due to an uptick in passenger vehicle sales.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, was about 4% higher than the previous month, and rose 3.1% year-on-year to 19.60 million tonnes in December, data from Indian oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed on Monday.

“Demand in India, the third largest consumer, was growing the fastest among major economies in 2022,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, and that “solid economic growth should see Indian demand expanding also at a solid pace this year.”