(Bloomberg) -- India's oil consumption surged 4.5 percent in April as industrial activity gathered pace in Asia's third-largest economy and sales of trucks and buses soared.
The nation's total oil demand expanded to 17.7 million tons in the month from 16.9 million a year ago, rising for eight straight months, according to the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell.
Demand for diesel, which accounts for about 40 percent of India's oil consumption, increased 2.7 percent to 7.2 million tons. Demand for diesel is typically muted in April as farming consumption shrinks following the harvest season in March.
- Gasoline consumption was about 9.3 percent higher at 2.3 million tons
- Liquefied petroleum gas usage gained 13 percent to 1.9 million tons
- Demand for petroleum coke shrunk 0.7 percent to 2.2 million tons
India's industrial and economic growth has picked up in recent months. Core sector industrial production rose 4.1 percent in March. Sales of passenger and commercial transport vehicles also surged in April. Passenger vehicle sales, including sport-utility vehicles, rose 7.5 percent during the month, while those of trucks and buses climbed 76 percent. India sold almost 25 million vehicles between April last year and March, including 3.3 million cars and 856,453 trucks and buses, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
To contact the reporter on this story: Saket Sundria in Mumbai at ssundria@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Abhay Singh, Alpana Sarma
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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