India’s gasoil consumption fell in the first half of October from the same period in the previous year, preliminary sales data showed.
Diesel sales by the country’s state fuel retailers came in at 2.4 million tonnes during Oct. 1-15, a decline of about 9.2% from last year and down 0.9% from the same period in 2019, the data showed.
State retailers Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS own about 90% of the country’s retail fuel outlets.
Sales of gasoil, which accounts for about two-fifths of India’s overall refined fuel consumption, are directly linked to industrial activity in Asia’s third-largest economy.
In contrast, gasoline sales stayed above the pre-COVID levels at 1.05 million tonnes as people continued to prefer using personal vehicles over public transport for safety reasons.
India has not yet fully opened its public transport sector, which mostly uses diesel.
October gasoline sales were up 8.3% from the same period in 2019 and rose by 2% from September, the data showed.
Source: Reuters (Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)