As the Covid lockdown related norms have been relaxed, India's fuel demand picked up in July. With relaxation in norms, economic activity has increased and fuel consumption has gone up. State-owned fuel retailers sold 2.37 million tonnes of petrol in July, up 17 per cent from the year-earlier period. It was 3.56 per cent higher than pre-Covid petrol sales of 2.39 million tonnes in July 2019. Sales of diesel - the most used fuel in the country - rose 12.36 per cent to 5.45 million tonnes over the previous year, but was down 10.9 per cent from July 2019. This is the second straight month that showed a rise in consumption since March.