NEW DELHI: India's petrol consumption in December rose more than 13% from the pre-pandemic level and diesel sales stood just 1.6% short of the same month of 2019 on the back of rebounding economic activity and rising preference for personal vehicles.
Government data shows petrol sales rising more than 4% and diesel consumption, a key measure of economic activity, increasing 1.4% in December from the same period of 2020, reinforcing the trend since October last year.
Sequentially, December petrol sales were 6.6% higher and diesel 13.6% more than in November.
Jet fuel sales in December also grew more than 25% than the same month of 2020 but were still 26% short of the December 2019 figures. Sequentially too, December sales were nearly 10% higher than November as more flights took to the skies. But still, industry sources said sales were unlikely to reach the pre-pandemic level till regular international flights resume.
LPG, as usual, continued on a growth path, exceeding December 2019 level by more than 5% but was 1% lower than December 2020.
