India’s diesel consumption in October rose 6.6 per cent from a year earlier, the first such increase since Covid-related restrictions were imposed in late March, preliminary data showed on Sunday, signalling a pick-up in industrial activity.

Diesel sales by the country’s three state fuel retailers totalled 6.17 million tonnes in October, according to provisional data compiled by Indian Oil Corp, the country’s biggest refiner and fuel retailer.

Sales of diesel, which account for about two-fifths of India’s fuel demand, rose 27.5 per cent from September.

Rising diesel sales in the world’s third-biggest oil consumer and importer should help refiners, who had to cut crude-processing runs during the coronavirus crisis.

IOC hopes to operate refineries at full capacity in a couple of months, up from 95 per cent at present, as local fuel demand is rising, company chairman S.M. Vaidya has said.

Rising gasoline and diesel demand in India should also aid other markets hit by slow demand recovery.

Local gasoline sales in October rose above pre-pandemic levels for a second month in a row.

Gasoline sales rose 4 per cent in October from a year earlier to about 2.4 million tonnes, about 8.6 per cent higher than September, the data showed.

State companies IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum own about 90 per cent of the country’s retail fuel outlets.