India's fuel imports grow to a four-month high in August
India's fuel imports have increased to a four-month high of around 4.2 million barrels per day in August 2021. Reuters reports that fuel import in India increased around 23% from July this year and around 6.2% from August last year.
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The oil demand was severely impacted last year due to the lockdown and consequent travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Later on, the oil demand revived slowly during the festive season on the back of improved situation and reopening of the economy. However, the second wave of pandemic came as a major blow earlier this year, which resulted in a slump in fuel sales.
The local lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by the state governments across India impacted fuel demand.With the gradual restart of economic activities, fuel demand started reviving, resulting in increased sales. However, sky-high prices of petrol and diesel too have been impacting fuel sales.
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Despite the recent pause in the price hike, petrol and diesel prices have increased incessantly a few months back. This resulted in all-time high rates for both motor fuels. This too impacted sale of the petrol and diesel across India.
However, oil companies now believe the festive season will improve demand for fuels. The report has claimed that some oil refiners in India aim to boost their production level anticipating a pent-up demand around the upcoming festive season. Indian refiners mostly purchase oil around two months ahead of processing.
Incidentally, just a few days back, there was a discussion around bringing petrol and diesel under GST ambit. However, the GST Council eventually didn't take any decision regarding this.
On Tuesday, the price of petrol and diesel remained static for the 16th successive day. In New Delhi, a litre of petrol on Tuesday is available at ₹101.19, while diesel costs ₹88.62 per litre. Per litre petrol and diesel in Mumbai costs ₹107.26 and ₹96.19 respectively. The price of these motor fuels in Kolkata is ₹101.62 and ₹91.71respectively. Chennai is the only metro city, where a litre of petrol now sells under ₹100.
