Diesel consumption fell 2.3 per cent this January as against the year-ago period, even as petrol sales grew by 5.9 per cent in the same period, according to the sales data of leading public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs). Industry sources noted that lower operations of public transport including state buses and the railways were key reasons for diesel consumption not returning to pre-Covid levels. The prices of both petrol and diesele have also been hiked by Rs 2.5 per litre each in January, due to a rise in the international price of crude and high levies on the two auto fuels, which were hiked significantly in 2020 to boost government revenues during the pandemic. Diesel consumption accounts for around 40 per cent of total fuel consumption in the country is considered a key indicator of economic activity. The combined diesel sales for the three large state-owned OMCs, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. fell to 6,042 Thousand Metric Tonnes (TMT) in January from 6,187 TMT in the year-ago period. Exports grow 5.4% in Jan, trade deficit narrows New Delhi: Merchandise exports in January rose 5.4 per cent from a year before, the highest since September 2020 and compared to a 0.1 per cent rise in December, showed the preliminary estimate of the Commerce Ministry. Imports, too, recorded a second successive month of growth, though the pace of expansion slowed from the January level, reflecting the fragile state of domestic demand. Trade deficit narrowed to $14.75 billion in January from $15.44 billion in the previous month. fe
