Indian Public Retailers’ Petrol Sales Down By 61 Per Cent, Diesel By 57 Per Cent In April: Report

Petrol and diesel sales of India’s state retailer such as Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum dipped in April by 61 per cent and 57 per cent respectively from 2019 in the same period, The Economic Times reported attributing sources.

The demand, however, saw an improvement later in April as the government began to allow some movement and industrial activities in some parts of the country. The sales of these three companies in the first half of April were down by 61 per cent for Petrol and 64 per cent for diesel.

The three public behemoths own nearly 90 per cent of India’s retail petrol diesel outlets.

The decline in the demand of fuel has hit the oil industry due to the nationwide lockdown in place to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The third phase of the lockdown began Monday (4 May) with limited relaxations in orange and green zones. Red zones will still see strict restrictions over movement.

According to provisional industry data provided to ET by two sources who did not wish to be named, the overall fuel demand in the country was down was 50 per cent when compared to the same period last year. The overall refined fuel demand consists of requirement of products such as fuel oil, bitumen and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

As the passenger flight operations remain suspended since 25 March, jet fuel sales in April too reduced by al most 92 per cent, according to the provisional industry data.