India's fuel demand fell 3.9% in January, compared with a year earlier, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry released on Tuesday showed.

Fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.01 million tonnes, the data showed.

Diesel consumption, a key parameter linked to economic growth and which accounts for about 40% of overall refined fuel sales in India, declined 2.3% year-on-year to 6.80 million tonnes.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, rose by about 6.1% from a year earlier to 2.61 million tonnes.

Sales of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), increased by about 2% to 2.49 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell by 10.6% to 1.27 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 2.9% lower than a year-ago, while fuel oil dropped by about 10% last month.