Why Diesel sales are finally growing since lockdown
Diesel consumption is a key indicator of economic activity and sales by the leading state-owned OMCs grew by 27.5% over diesel sales in September.
Diesel sales in India grew for the first time in October since the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 was imposed in March.
October diesel sales of the three major state-owned oil marketing companies – Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. grew by 6.6% to 6,173 Thousand Metric Tonnes (TMT) up from 5,790 TMT in October 2019.
Petrol sales which had crossed Pre-Covid levels in September also grew by 4.0% to 2,390 TMT in October.
Diesel consumption is a key indicator of economic activity and sales by the leading state-owned OMCs grew by 27.5% over diesel sales in September.
Are diesel and petrol sales on a sustained growth trajectory?
S M Vaidya, chairman of India Oil noted in a recent press interaction that the company expected that diesel sales would reach pre-Covid levels by November and that petrol sales had recovered fully to pre-Covid levels.
Petrol sales continue to benefit from an increased preference for personal mobility but the sharp growth in diesel sales may be a result of some pent-up demand from previous months which was not fulfilled, according to industry sources.
The sale of aviation turbine fuel, however, remained down by 50% in October with Indian airlines still serving far fewer passengers as compared to pre-Covid levels.
Indian airlines carried 3.94 million passengers during September, down 65.8% compared to September 2019.
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