India’s gasoline demand will likely recover from late August, while diesel consumption is expected to stay weak, an official at refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) said.

The local sale of diesel by private refiners is also denting sales by state-run companies, the official said.

The official did not wish to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Daily gasoline sales by the three state-run retailers, which also includes Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS and Bharat Petroleum BPCL.NS during July 1-16 were down by 10.8% month-on-month, preliminary data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Savio D’Souza)