Extreme heat conditions melt diesel demand, sales drop 4% in June

India's diesel demand slumped in June as extreme heat conditions in parts of the country curtailed travel, preliminary data of state-owned firms showed on Monday.

Fuel sales, which traditionally surge during elections, have defied the trend this year, falling month after month.

And the decline has now extended even after the end of the general elections.

Petrol sales of three state-owned firms, which control 90 per cent of the fuel market, at 1.42 million tonnes in the first half of June was almost the same as 1.41 million tonnes of fuel consumed in the same period last year. Month-on-month consumption dropped 4.6 per cent.

Diesel sales dropped 3.9 per cent to 3.95 million tonnes during June 1 to 15 when compared with the year-ago period. The demand for the nation's most consumed fuel had fallen 2.3 per cent in April and 2.7 per cent in March. In May it fell 1.1 per cent.

Besides electioneering, the summer harvest season as also the scorching summer that increases the demand for a