Petrol sales up 12.3%, diesel sales continues to decline in April

India's petrol consumption soared 12.3 per cent in April, but diesel sales continued to slide despite the country entering into hectic electioneering for general elections, preliminary data of state-owned firms showed on Wednesday. Petrol sales of three state-owned firms, which control 90 per cent of the fuel market, rose to 2.97 million tonnes in April compared to 2.65 million tonnes of consumption in the same period last year. Diesel demand dropped 2.3 per cent to 7 million tonnes. Demand for the nation's most consumed fuel had fallen 2.7 per cent in March. This is despite India going into general elections where automobiles largely driven on diesel are used extensively for campaigning. While petrol sales were up mostly due to an increase in the use of personal vehicles on the back of a price cut, crop harvesting season and the onset of summer, which will increase the demand for air conditioning in cars as well as the electioneering holds out hope for reversing the trend in diese