India’s fuel demand posts first annual growth since February

India’s fuel demand posted its first yearly increase since February as a spurt in diesel demand ahead of the festival season pushed consumption to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Total demand for petroleum products rose 2.5 per cent in October to reach 17.77 million tonnes as compared to 17.34 million tonnes a year back, according to provisional data published by the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

While petrol had reached pre-COVID levels in September itself, diesel consumption returned to normal last month.

Diesel demand soared 7.4 per cent year-on-year to 6.5 million tonnes while petrol sales were up 4.5 per cent at 2.54 million tonnes.