Fuel sales soar in June with gain in economic activity

New Delhi: India's petrol and diesel sales soared in June on the back of the start of cropping season, summer travels and overall pick up in economic activity, preliminary industry data showed.

The start of the cropping season helped diesel demand register a double-digit growth over the pre-pandemic period -- a record in recent years. Diesel, the most-used fuel in the country, saw sales jumping 35.2 per cent year-on-year to 7.38 million tonnes in June. This was 10.5 per cent higher than sales in pre-pandemic June 2019 and 33.3 per cent more than June 2020. It was 11.5 per cent higher than 6.7 million tonnes of consumption during May this year.

Industry sources attributed the pickup in diesel demand -- which first rose above pre-pandemic levels in April -- to higher consumption by the agriculture and transport sectors. Petrol sales by state-owned fuel retailers, which control roughly 90 per cent of the market, at 2.8 million tonnes in June were 29 per cent higher than the same period last year when a devastating second COVID-19 wave wreaked havoc on the economy. This consumption was 36.7 per cent higher than the demand in June 2020 and 16.5 per cent more than 2.4 million tonnes of sales in the pre-COVID June 2019. Month-on-month sales were up 3.1 per cent, as per the preliminary data.

Sources said consumption in June was helped by the low base effect of last year. Consumption has been on the rise since May when annual summer vacations led to higher travels. April saw consumption drop due to a Rs 10 per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices after an over four-month hiatus. The government had on March 25, 2020 imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of corona virus. The complete lockdown, which halted mobility and crippled business, was slowly eased after two months.

Cooking gas, whose prices were hiked by Rs 103.50 per cylinder since March, saw sales rising by a marginal 0.23 per cent to 2.26 million tonnes in June. This was 9.6 per cent higher than the consumption in June 2020 when the government extended free cooking gas to the poor to help them tide over the hardships of the lockdown.