Petrol demand continues to rise in August, diesel lags

NEW DELHI: India’s fuel demand recovery remained patchy in August as petrol consumption continued to rise but diesel sales fell, preliminary data from state fuel retailers showed on Wednesday.

While petrol sales are already above pre-Covid levels, diesel continues to lag.

State-owned fuel retailers sold 2.43 million tonne of petrol in August, up 13.6 per cent from the year-ago period.

It was 4.1 per cent higher than pre-Covid petrol sales of 2.33 million tonne in August 2019.

Sales of diesel – the most used fuel in the country – rose 15.9 per cent to 4.94 million tonne during August 2021 over the previous year, but was down 9.8 per cent from August 2019.