India's fuel demand rose 3.2% in December

3. Beware of the start-stop scam. A common method pumps use to scam motorists is filling up a lower amount ‘by mistake’. For example, say you have asked for fuel worth Rs 1,500. The attendant fills up only Rs 500 worth and after being pointed out his mistake goes ahead and pretends to reset the machine and fills up to Rs 1,000. All the while, you could be under the impression that you received Rs 1,500 worth of fuel. (Representative image)

India's fuel demand rose 3.2 percent in December compared with the same month last year.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.51 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 10.0 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.40 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 5.6 percent to 2.17 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 10.7 percent to 1.23 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 1.9 percent up, while fuel oil use edged up 6.5 percent in December.