Sales of branded fuels up

India’s demand for branded fuel is rising sharply. The increase in average daily volume sales of branded petrol was 41% between 2005-06 and 2006-07. For diesel fuel, the figure was around 55%, according to data provided by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). This is much higher than the growth in overall sales of petrol (7%) and diesel fuel (about 8%). Per day average volume sales of petrol for IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum put together went up from 4,145 kiloliter in 2005-06 to 5,858 kiloliter in 2006-07. IOC Marketing Director GC Daga said that the company had seen an increase in the conversion rate from 13% in 2005-06 to 23% in 2006-07 for XtraPremium petrol and from 11% to 17% for XtraMile diesel. (May 8, 2007)