Transport leads in diesel use

India's transport sector continues to be the biggest consumer of diesel, leaving behind agriculture, power generation and industrial applications by a huge margin.

It accounted for 59.8 per cent of the total consumption of the fuel during 2002-03, compared with 19.9 per cent by agriculture, 6.8 per cent by the power sector and 7.0 per cent by industry.

At 21,831 thousand metric tonnes, diesel consumption by the transport sector during 2002-03 was 0.5 per cent more than the 21,662 thousand metric tonnes used during 2001-02.

Of this, the railways consumed 1,670 thousand metric tonnes in 2002-03 and 1,586 thousand metric tonnes in the previous year.

State road transport undertakings used 1,412 thousand metric tonnes of diesel in 2002-03 and 1,381 thousand metric tonnes in the previous year.

According to petroleum ministry data, consumption of diesel by the agriculture sector during 2002-03 was 7,278 thousand metric tonnes, whereas in the previous year it was 7,226 thousand metric tonnes.

The power sector consumed 2,497 thousand metric tonnes and 2,509 thousand metric tonnes, respectively, in the two years. In the case of industry, the consumption during the two years was 2,549 thousand metric tonnes and 2,688 thousand metric tonnes respectively.

According to the data, there was no appreciable change in the consumption pattern of diesel between 2002-03 and 2001-02.

The variation was limited to less than 1 per cent in each case.

While the total sale of diesel during 2002-03 came to 36,645 thousand metric tonnes, it was 7,570 thousand metric tonnes in the case of petrol.