The total consumption of petroleum products during the current financial year is estimated at 99.44 million tonne as against the earlier estimate of 104.58 million tonne.
This was disclosed by minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply to a question in Parliament today.
Demand for petroleum products, particularly diesel, has been falling for more than a year.
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During the first six months of 2001-02, diesel consumption had fallen by 5.4 per cent to 18.375 million tonne while that of motor spirit rose 5.8 per cent to 3.486 million tonne.
In 2000-01, petroleum products consumption had gone up to 100.07 million tonne from 97.09 million tonne in the preceding year.