May 7 Reuters India39;s fuel consumption rose by 6.1 yearonyear in April, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the oil ministry showed on Tuesday.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

India is the world39;s thirdbiggest oil importer and consumer. The data is a proxy for the country39;s oil demand.

KEY QUOTE

The rise in total fuel consumption in April can be attributed to the increased activity in the run up to elections across the country, said Prashant Vasisht, vice president and cohead, corporate ratings at ICRA.

We expect Indian fuel demand to grow by 34, with the GDP set to grow. The bulk of the rise will be lead by petrol and diesel demand. Air travel in India also has shown good growth.

BY THE NUMBERS

Total consumption totalled 19.86 million metric tons 4.85 million barrels per day in April, up from 18.71 million tons last year, data showed.

Demand was down 5.8 on a monthly basis from the 21.09 million metric tons consumed in March.

Sales of diesel, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, rose by 1.4 yearonyear to 7.93 million tons in April.

Sales of gasoline in April rose 14 from the previous year to 3.28 million tons.

Demand for bitumen, used for making roads, fell by over 5 annually.

Cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas sales rose by nearly 10 to 2.36 million tons, while naphtha sales gained by 3.9 to about 1.16 million tons, compared with last April, the data showed.

Fuel oil use decreased by more than 16 yearonyear in…