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India fuel demand headed for 5-year low as truck operators idle vehicles

India's truckers are facing multiple headwinds that are crimping diesel consumption and overall oil demand

trucks, road, transport, highways, accidents

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The slowdown this year has decimated purchases of new trucks and buses, with sales by Tata Motors Ltd. through April to June at a 10th of what it sold in the same period last year

Saket Sundria and Debjit Chakraborty | Bloomberg

3 min read Last Updated : Aug 27 2020 | 6:59 PM IST

India’s oil-product demand is set to slump to a five-year low this financial year, with a bleak outlook for diesel consumption as the nation’s truck operators idle vehicles and consider cutting the size of their fleets.

About half of India’s trucks are parked up without work and the nation’s biggest operator is shunning new purchases and may downsize after demand crashed due to the pandemic. The workhorses of industry that haul goods all over the country are the biggest consumers of diesel, the most used transport fuel in India and a useful proxy for its economic health.

The drag on

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