India’s fuel demand likely to grow by 5.5 per cent in next fiscal
new Delhi:
India’s fuel demand is likely to grow by 5.5 per cent in the next fiscal year beginning April 1, show preliminary government estimates, reflecting a pick-up in industrial activity and mobility in Asia’s third-largest economy after months of stagnation.
According to government forecasts, India’s fuel consumption in 2022-23, a proxy for oil demand, may rise to 214.5 million tonnes from the revised estimate of 203.3 million tonnes for the current fiscal ending March 2022.
The estimates were released on the website of the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), a unit of the federal oil ministry.
Local demand for gasoline, primarily used in passenger vehicles, is expected to rise 7.8 per cent to 33.3 million tonnes, while gasoil consumption is expected to increase by nearly 4 per cent to 79.3 million tonnes, the data showed.
Aviation fuel consumption is expected to increase by nearly 50 per cent to 7.6 million tonnes as against the revised estimate of 5.1 million tonnes for the year ended March 2022.
PPAC said demand for petcoke, a better-burning alternative to coal, is expected to rise 2.8 per cent to 14.8 million tonnes, while demand for liquefied petroleum gas, used as cooking fuel, is projected to rise 4.5 per cent to 29.7 million tonnes.
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