Official data released on Wednesday showed that India’s fuel demand fell 9.4% in April compared to the previous month, as lockdowns imposed in many states to combat the second wave of coronavirus sweeping the country slashed demand.

According to data from the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), fuel consumption dropped 9.38 percent to 17.01 million tonnes in April from 18.77 million tonnes in March.

In April 2020, India was subjected to one of the world’s most extreme lockdowns, halting almost all economic activity. Fuel sales had dropped by half in that month, to their lowest level since 2006. On a year-over-year basis, gasoline demand increased by 81.5 percent from April 2020 lows.

In April, sales of gasoline, which is used in automobiles and motorcycles, dropped to 2.38 million tonnes, the lowest since August. In April, gasoline sales were down 13% from March 2021 and 3% from April 2019. 9.72,000 tonnes of gasoline is sold in April 2020.

Diesel demand, the country’s most used fuel, dropped to 6.67 million tonnes in April 2021, down 7.5 percent from the previous month and 9% from April 2019. 3.25 million tonnes of diesel were sold in April 2020.