New Delhi: India’s fuel demand rose 6.4 percent in January compared with the same month last year.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.34 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 13.2 per cent higher from a year earlier at 2.37 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 11.0 per cent to 2.31 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 1.2 per cent to 1.26 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 15.1 per cent up, while fuel oil use edged unchanged in January.