Amid Coronavirus Lockdown, India’s Fuel Consumption Falls By 18 Per Cent - Biggest Dip In Decade

As the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in India worsens and the nationwide lockdown keeps people indoors, country’s fuel consumption in the month of March saw a dip by 18 per cent, counted as the biggest fall in over a decade’s time, The Economic Times reported.

While India’s petroleum product consumption went down by 17.79 per cent with demand of diesel, petrol, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) falling drastically due to the lockdown and the shutdown of flight operations.

As per the official data released on Thursday (9 April), Only 16.08 million tonnes of petroleum product were consumed in the country.

Diesel’s consumption was only 5.65 million tonnes going down by 24.23 per cent in March. Diesel, being the most used fuel in the country, has seen the biggest ever recorded dip in its demand as the heavy transport such as trains and trucks remain halted.

Petrol, used in cars and other light motor vehicles, also recorded a drop in sale of 16.37 per cent to 2.15 million tonnes as most of these vehicles are off roads during the lockdown to contain COVID-19 outbreak in India.