India's fuel consumption increased by 6.1 per cent year-on-year in April, according to the data released on Tuesday by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry. The total consumption reached 19.858 million metric tons during the period. India is the third-largest oil importer and consumer globally. The provided data serve as a representative indicator of the nation's oil demand.


"The rise in total fuel consumption in April can be attributed to the increased activity in the run up to elections across the country," said Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head of corporate ratings at ICRA.


"We expect Indian fuel demand to grow by 3 per cent-4 per cent, with the GDP set to grow. The bulk of the rise will be led by petrol and diesel demand. Air travel in India also has shown good growth,” Vasisht added.


According to the shared data, total consumption amounted to 19.86 million metric tons (equivalent to 4.85 million barrels per day) in April, an increase from the 18.71 million tons recorded in the previous year. 


However, demand experienced a decline of 5.8 per cent every month compared to the 21.09 million metric tons consumed in March. Additionally, sales of diesel, primarily utilised by trucks and commercially operated passenger vehicles, experienced a year-on-year growth of 1.4 per cent to reach 7.93 million tons in April.


The data further reveals that the sales of gasoline surged by 14 per cent in April compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 3.28 million tons. Conversely, demand for bitumen, a crucial component in road construction, experienced an annual decline of over 5 per cent. On the other hand, sales of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), saw a notable jump of nearly 10 per cent, reaching 2.36 million tons. 


Additionally, naphtha sales saw a moderate increase of 3.9 per cent, reaching around 1.16 million tons compared to the previous April. However, fuel oil usage exhibited a significant decrease of more than 16 per cent year-on-year in April.


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