According to India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the energy ministry, the country's fuel consumption in April increased by 6.1 percent over the same month last year. India is the third-largest oil importer and consumer in the world. This data is crucial for determining the need for oil in the future.
The increased activity ahead of India's elections is the reason for the jump in fuel use according to Vice president and co-head of corporate ratings at ICRA Prashant Vasisht. Vasisht predicts that the rising GDP will propel a 3–4% growth in fuel demand in India. The demand for gasoline and diesel is expected to be the main drivers of this increase. Moreover, air travel inside India is also showing substantial development.
Data-wise, the total amount of fuel consumed in April increased from 18.71 million tons to 19.86 million metric tons (or 4.85 million barrels per day). Every month, though, there was a 5.8% decrease from the 21.09 million metric tons that were consumed in March. Notably, sales of diesel, increased by 1.4% in April compared to the same month last year to reach 7.93 million tons. Diesel is primarily used by trucks and commercially driven cars in the country. Sales of gasoline increased sharply as well, by 14% to 3.28 million tons over the prior year.
Conversely, the need for bitumen—a substance used in road construction—saw a yearly decline of more than 5%. Compared to the same period last year, sales of naphtha increased by 3.9 percent to around 1.16 million tons. On the other hand sales of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) increased by over 10 percent to 2.36 million tons. Moreover, in April, fuel oil use decreased by more than 16 percent compared to the previous year.
India's GDP is the third-biggest economy in Asia. It is expected to increase by 6.5 percent in the current fiscal year, making it one of the key growing economies in the region. According to a new business survey, the manufacturing sector in India remained strong in April even if there was a minor slowdown. This was due to strong demand, which drove enterprises to raise their raw material purchases at an almost record-breaking rate.
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