 "India's fuel demand rose 16.4% in March")
India's fuel demand rose 16.4% 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% higher from a year earlier at 2.05 million tonnes.
Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 14.1% to 1.84 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 3.0% to 1.21 million tonnes.
Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 16.9% up, while fuel oil use edged up 39.4% in March.