India's fuel demand fell 0.6 percent year-on-year in March

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's fuel demand fell 0.6 percent in March compared with the same month last year. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.36 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed. Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 2.9 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.11 million tonnes. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 1.9 percent to 1.89 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 1.8 percent to 1.15 million tonnes. Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 12.2 percent lower, while fuel oil use edged lower 23.4 percent in March. (Reporting by NEW DELHI newsroom)