With the nationwide lockdown bringing the economic activity to a grinding halt in April, nation's fuel consumption witnessed a steep fall of 45.8 per cent with all petroleum products except LPG witnessing a massive vanishing of demand, reports Economic Times.

The fuel consumption in total plunged to just 9.929 million tonnes in the entire month, compared to a figure of 18.32 million tonnes in the same month a year ago. Also, the slump in April is a major fall compared to March, when during the last days of the month lockdown was enforced by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. In March, the total fuel consumption of the nation stood at 16.08 million tonnes.

Of different petroleum products, petrol sales witnessed a drop of 60.43 per cent in April, while the figures for diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) stood at 55.6 per cent and 91.3 per cent respectively.

However, it should be noted that the drop in sales of diesel, as well as petrol, was larger in the first half of April. In the first half, the drop in sales of diesel and petrol stood at 61 per cent and 64 per cent respectively.

The sales are expected to pick up in the ongoing month of May with the calibrated reopening of the economy.

Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also said last week that the demand is likely to rebound to near normal level in the second half of May after more economic activity is allowed.