India's fuel demand rose 16.4% in March

New Delhi: India`s fuel demand rose 16.4 percent in March compared with the same month last year.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.09 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of petrol were 21.6 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.05 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 14.1 percent to 1.84 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 3.0 percent to 1.21 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 16.9 percent up, while fuel oil use edged up 39.4 percent in March.