India's fuel sales slump 50% in April; petrol down 64%, diesel 61%, ATF 94%

The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 percent during April 1 to 15, the data showed.

PTI

April 17, 2020 / 16:44 IST

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 consumption slumped by a record 50 percent in April as all petroleum products except LPG saw massive demand erosion following a nationwide lockdown halted economic activity and travel. According to provisional industry data for fuel consumption in the first half of April, petrol sales were down 64 percent, while diesel slumped by 61 percent.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) consumption collapsed by 94 percent as most airlines have stopped flying.

The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 percent during April 1 to 15, the data showed.

Overall the decline in petroleum product sales was 50 percent, it said.

The data pertains to sales made by three public sector (PSU) oil marketing companies. Private firms such as Nayara Energy do not share mid-month sales trend and their numbers get reflected only in the monthly consumption numbers released by the oil ministry in the second week of every month.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show