New Delhi: India’s petrol and diesel consumption registered a sharp increase in August compared to the same month of the previous year, reflecting the higher level of economic activity in the country during the month, according to data compiled by the planning cell of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Diesel, the country’s largest-selling petroleum product, used in the transport and agricultural sectors, posted a 6.46 per cent increase in consumption to 7.00 million tonnes, from 6.58 million tonnes in the same month of the previous year.
There has been rapid expansion in the country’s highway network, which has led to better connectivity and more goods movement across the country, leading to increased consumption of diesel. Similarly, with the increase in the number of tractors in the country, fuel consumption has risen. The weak monsoon in August this year has also forced farmers to rely more on diesel-driven water pumps for irrigation, which has also contributed to the increase in consumption.
Petrol consumption rose 7.88 per cent year-on-year to 3.82 million tonnes in August, compared with 3.54 million tonnes in the same month last year. The increase in the number of cars and two-wheelers sold in the country across cities, towns and rural areas in a growing economy has driven the rise in petrol sales.
The official figures also show that the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), used for cooking, recorded a steep decline during August.
LPG consumption fell 16.15 per cent year-on-year to 2.42 million tonnes in August compared with 2.89 million tonnes in the same month last year. The West Asia conflict leading to a choking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas exports transit, has led to a disruption in LPG imports from the region. India imports more than 50 per cent of its LPG through this route in normal times and has been forced to source the fuel from more distant countries.
The government has also encouraged consumers to switch from LPG to piped natural gas for cooking and rolled out incentives for city gas distributors to expand domestic PNG connections to tide over the crisis.
(IANS)
