FY16 was an eventful year for oil marketing companies (OMCs), be it the rising demand, low oil prices, or the revision in the pricing regime. With June 2016 data from OCAC, the sales by the OMCs for major petroleum products including petrol, diesel and furnace oil, touted an increase of five percent year-on-year to over 22 million tons. The same growth in FY15 was around 4.79 percent year-on-year. Petroleum imports, which make up for the rest of the consumption, also witnessed a growth of over 5 percent, year-on-year. The consumption of petroleum was primarily led by increased consumption of retail fuels, highlighted by increased sale of key petroleum products.

Product wise, motor gasoline (petrol) was the key behind the growth witnessed in FY16. In the fiscal, motor gasoline sales by the OMCs jumped by 22 percent year-on-year due to a clear substitution taking place over the last couple of years; petrol sales have gradually taken the place of CNG, which has been put a deceleration route since after the gas shortage in the country. Moreover, increased car sales have also contributed to increased consumption petrol.

While petrol sales stood at 5.76 million tons, imports of the same touched 4.2 million tons, up by 34 percent year-on-year, as per OCAC data. Month-on-month figures also show that petrol sales have been resilient, rising by over 14 percent year-on-year. If growth pattern is anything to go by (see illustrations), petrol sales are slated to grow in the coming years on account of returning economic activity highlighted by increased car sales, and use of petrol in home generators due to regulations against the use of gas.