PPAC’s statewise sales series runs from FY2008-09 to FY2024-25, and it tells a sharper story than the national total: petrol demand grew more than three times faster than diesel, the diesel-to-petrol ratio collapsed from 4.6 to 2.3, the growth frontier moved east to Odisha and Chhattisgarh — and the slowest-growing fuel market in India is Delhi, which is exactly what its gas and metro build-out was meant to achieve.
Petroleum · State-level demand · Motorisation
Where India Actually Burns Its Fuel: Sixteen Years of State-Level Sales
Published · v1.0.0 · PPAC statewise POL sales workbook, FY2008-09 → FY2024-25
Twelve states burn nearly three-quarters of it
Gujarat leads; Uttar Pradesh doubled; the south’s giants grew slowest.
Exhibit 1
The twelve largest state fuel markets
All petroleum products, thousand metric tonnes. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are shown combined so the 2014 bifurcation does not masquerade as a demand collapse.
| State | FY2008-09, TMT | FY2024-25, TMT | Share of India, % | Growth, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gujarat | 15,743 | 26,130 | 10.9 | +66 |
| Maharashtra | 15,820 | 23,088 | 9.6 | +46 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 10,749 | 21,748 | 9.1 | +102 |
| Karnataka | 6,986 | 15,962 | 6.7 | +128 |
| Andhra Pradesh + Telangana | 9,390 | 15,902 | 6.6 | +69 |
| Tamil Nadu | 10,855 | 15,879 | 6.6 | +46 |
| Rajasthan | 7,890 | 11,752 | 4.9 | +49 |
| Haryana | 6,300 | 10,770 | 4.5 | +71 |
| West Bengal | 5,248 | 10,152 | 4.2 | +93 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 4,429 | 9,290 | 3.9 | +110 |
| Odisha | 2,653 | 7,457 | 3.1 | +181 |
| Kerala | 4,472 | 6,940 | 2.9 | +55 |
| Twelve-state share | — | — | 73.1 | — |
| All India | 133,599 | 239,472 | 100 | +79 |
PPAC, Statewise Sales of Petroleum Products workbook, all-products sheet, FY2008-09 and FY2024-25. These are sales in a state, not consumption by its residents — border districts buy where fuel is cheaper, so a state’s VAT rate leaks demand across its boundary; PPAC titles the series accordingly.
Two things stand out. Gujarat is India’s largest fuel market, ahead of the considerably more populous Maharashtra — industrial and freight intensity, not headcount. And the old giants grew slowest: Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu at +46% against a national +79%, while Uttar Pradesh doubled and Karnataka grew +128%.
The composition flipped: India’s fuel demand is passenger-ising
Diesel still dominates, but every increment leans petrol.
Exhibit 2
Petrol vs diesel, nationally and in the big states
Growth FY2008-09 → FY2024-25 and the current diesel-to-petrol sales ratio.
| Market | Petrol growth, % | Diesel growth, % | Diesel÷petrol now |
|---|---|---|---|
| All India | +255 | +77 | 2.3 |
| Uttar Pradesh | +396 | +102 | 2.2 |
| West Bengal | +348 | +66 | 2.6 |
| Madhya Pradesh | +316 | +112 | 2.2 |
| Andhra Pradesh + Telangana | +303 | +36 | 2.1 |
| Karnataka | +298 | +158 | 2.7 |
| Rajasthan | +286 | +76 | 2.9 |
| Gujarat | +236 | +138 | 2.7 |
| Tamil Nadu | +236 | +38 | 1.8 |
| Haryana | +197 | +20 | 3.0 |
| Maharashtra | +176 | +88 | 2.4 |
PPAC statewise workbook, MS and HSD sheets. National petrol sales rose 11,258 → 40,004 TMT; diesel 51,710 → 91,408 TMT. The national diesel-to-petrol ratio halved from 4.6 to 2.3.
Sixteen years ago India sold 4.6 tonnes of diesel for every tonne of petrol; it now sells 2.3. The increment is two-wheelers and cars, not trucks and tractors — which is why the ethanol-blending programme (petrol-side) keeps gaining policy leverage while diesel-side interventions fade, and why the per-market playbook in the diesel-to-CNG piece matters most in the high-ratio states: Haryana at 3.0 and Rajasthan at 2.9 have the most diesel per litre of petrol left to convert.
The frontier moved east; the plateau is scattered across the rest of the map
Odisha nearly tripled. Delhi barely grew — on purpose.
Exhibit 3
Fastest and slowest fuel markets, FY2008-09 → FY2024-25
States above 2,000 TMT of current sales.
| Fastest | Growth, % | Slowest | Growth, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odisha | +181 | Delhi | +22 |
| Chhattisgarh | +143 | Punjab | +23 |
| Karnataka | +128 | Maharashtra | +46 |
| Jharkhand | +124 | Tamil Nadu | +46 |
| Assam | +120 | Rajasthan | +49 |
PPAC statewise workbook, all-products sheets. The fastest column is dominated by the eastern mineral belt — Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand — plus Assam: late motorisation compounding on top of mining and industrial freight.
Delhi is the finding hiding in the slow column. The capital’s fuel sales grew 22% in sixteen years — a period in which its vehicle stock multiplied. The explanation is substitution, not stagnation: Delhi runs India’s densest gas transport network — 458 CNG station clusters and 19.6 lakh piped-gas connections on PNGRB’s May 2026 count — a metro carrying millions of trips, and the country’s most aggressive vehicle-age rules. Delhi is what the CGD takeover of India’s gas demand looks like from the petrol pump’s side of the ledger. Punjab’s +23% is the other kind of plateau — an agrarian, already-motorised economy whose diesel base stopped growing.
Sources. All state and national figures — PPAC, Statewise Sales of Petroleum Products workbook (all-products, MS and HSD sheets), FY2008-09 → FY2024-25, downloaded from ppac.gov.in and read 8 August 2026; values in thousand metric tonnes as published, growth and share computations by the author. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are combined throughout so the June 2014 bifurcation is not misread as a demand shift. Delhi’s gas-infrastructure counts (CNG stations and domestic PNG connections, as on 31.05.2026, source PNGRB) — PPAC, Snapshot of India’s Oil & Gas Data, July-26 edition, Table 22. The series measures sales within a state, which PPAC distinguishes from consumption by its residents; cross-border purchasing driven by VAT differentials is acknowledged in the text and not adjusted for.
About this article: Researched, written and edited by Umashankar Triplicane Dwarakanathan, with AI research assistance; every figure is meant to trace to the primary source cited. See the Editorial Policy for how sourcing, AI use and corrections work.
