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India's fuel demand falls sharply in April amid lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus

India's fuel demand falls sharply in April amid lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus

Petrol Station

India's fuel demand dipped 45.8% in April from a year earlier, as economic activity came to a halt due to nationwide lockdown and travel curbs to combat the spread of novel coronavirus.

Consumption of fuel totalled 9.93 million tonnes - its lowest since 2007, government data showed on Saturday.

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State fuel retailers in India sold 50% less refined fuel in the first two weeks of April than the same time a year earlier as the country came to a standstill due to the lockdown that was put in place on March 24.

The government last week extended the lockdown until May 17, with some relaxations in lower-risk areas, although travel by air, rail and metro and inter-state movement of people by road was still banned.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest report said India's annual fuel consumption will decline by 5.6% in 2020 compared with growth of 2.4% forecast in its March report.

Consumption of diesel, which is widely used for transportation as well as for irrigation needs in India, was down about 55.6% year-over-year at 3.25 million tonnes.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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