India's fuel consumption rose by 6.9% year-on-year to 13.79 million tons in August as weak monsoon rains spurred demand for diesel from the agriculture sector, as per data compiled by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Annual rate of growth in diesel consumption, which makes up more than 40% of local fuel sales, was the highest in four months in August at 6.3%. Local sale of gasoline last month jumped an annual 10.6%. India's oil imports in August jumped about 7.8% to about 4.1 million barrels per day or 17.23 million tons from a year earlier, data showed. Imports of oil products leaped 37.5%, while exports rose about 12.5%.