It’s going to take months for oil demand in the world’s third biggest market to get back to pre-virus levels as India faces its deepest recession ever in the wake of its near two-month lockdown.
Once the engine of global oil demand growth, India’s fuel consumption collapsed by as much as 70% at one stage last month as it embarked on one of the world’s most stringent nationwide quarantines. As the lockdown eases, it’s now running at about 40% below last year’s levels and could take until the end of 2020 to get close to full recovery, according to executives at the country’s state-owned fuel retailers.
