India's brutal Covid-19 wave hammers fuel sales as lockdowns spread

Indian fuel sales declined in the first half of April as a deadly second wave of Covid-19 led to renewed lockdowns and crippled demand.

 

Sales of everything from diesel to cooking fuels dropped during April 1-15 from a month earlier, according to people familiar with preliminary data from the country’s three biggest retailers.

 

Even gasoline fell by about 5 per cent — a product that recovered strongly during the pandemic as people favored their own cars over public transport to avoid being infected by the coronavirus.