Fuel sales gather pace in February fortnight after January slump

NEW DELHI: In an indication of fuel sales gathering pace in line with an uptick in industrial activity, diesel consumption in the first fortnight of February was 9% higher than January, when sales had shrunk 5% from the month before.
Similarly, petrol sales also reversed last month’s trend to post a monthly gain of 4.2% in the period under consideration. Consumption had dropped more than 3% in January from a month ago. But compared to a year ago, sales were down 2.4%.
But diesel consumption still remained about 9% and petrol 2.4% lower than the year-ago period, market data showed on Tuesday.
Diesel consumption is one of the key indicators of economic activities. The sharp rebound after the decline in January reflects increased economic activities in terms of movement of people, raw materials and finished products. But compared with a year ago, the numbers seem to indicate the economy has still some way to go before getting its mojo back.
Jet fuel sales also showed signs of recovery in the fortnight under review and were down 41% from the year-ago period as restrictions eased further. In January, sales were down 41.6% from January 2020. But there was no change on a monthly basis.
LPG, as usual, posted more than 5% growth in consumption from a year ago.
In January, electricity consumption had posted the fasted growth in three months but fuel sales declined sharply.