new delhi jan 17 reuters  indias gasoil sales declined in the first fortnight of january as rising covid19 infections hit consumer spending and truck movement in the country gasoil sales by the countrys state fuel retailers amounted to 247 million tonnes during jan 115 data compiled by stateowned refiners showed down by 141 from the same period in december and about 5 from a year ago sales were down about 8 from the same period in 2020 truck movement declined to 75 in january 115 from 85 in december said sp singh senior fellow at indian foundation for transport research and training he said local cargo movement has been restricted as the rising number of covid19 infections has added to the fear of job losses hitting consumer spending and retail sales state retailers indian oil corp iocns hindustan petroleum corp hpclns and bharat petroleum corp ltd bpclns own about 90 of the countrys retail fuel outlets sales of gasoil which account for about twofifths of indias overall refined fuel consumption are directly linked to industrial activity in asias thirdlargest economy the manufacturing purchasing managers index inpmieci compiled and collected by ihs markit fell to 555 in december from novembers 576 gasoline sales during the period was at 964380 tonnes a decline of about 14 from the first fortnight of december and 28 lower than a year ago the data showed the sales of gasoline however continued to stay above precovid19 levels rising by about 566 from 2020 as people continued to prefer using personal vehicles over public transport for safety reasons below is a table of indias preliminary fuel sales data with volumes in thousand tonnes