MUMBAI: India’s fuel consumption jumped 23.8 percent in May from a year earlier, continuing a recovery from a relatively low base in 2021 when the world’s third-biggest oil consumer was in the grip of the second wave of COVID-19.
Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 18.27 million tons last month, according to data from the Indian oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Last month’s increase was the biggest year-on-year jump since April 2021. Consumption also rose modestly, by 0.4 percent, from April.
The yearly increase is “because of a lower base, as demand in May 2021 was low due to high COVID cases at that time,” although the monthly rise was surprising, said Refinitiv analyst Ehsan Ul Haq.
“However, high oil prices are likely to impact consumption in the next few months. High fuel prices do not bode well for motorists worldwide,” he added.
Diesel consumption rose 31.7 percent in May year-on-year to 7.29 million tons and was up about 32.6 percent from two years earlier.
Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 51.5 percent higher than a year earlier at 3.02 million tons.
Amazon India seller accuses antitrust agency
Cloudtail, a former top seller for Amazon in India, has accused India’s antitrust agency of illegally detaining its employees during a raid over suspected competition law violations, court documents seen by Reuters show.
Cloudtail, among a handful of online sellers raided in an investigation of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart over suspected preferential treatment on e-commerce platforms, argued in a court filing that detentions were the cause for disallowing materials taken during the raid.
“[Three] employees from the senior management were detained for over 30 hours through the night till the completion of the search and seizure operation,” the May 30 filing said. The operation was conducted on April 28 and 29.
A senior source at the Competition Commission of India, which conducted the raid, rejected the allegations, saying it had obtained the requisite legal approvals and was in line with the watchdog’s regulatory processes.
The source was not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified.
Cloudtail’s filing marks an escalating tussle between India’s increasingly assertive authorities and the foreign e-commerce players that, along with their affiliates, dominate the country’s booming online retail sector.
(With input from Reuters)
