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Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hogged the lion's share of India's import bill for finished petroleum products in April. Around 5.53 lakh tonnes of LPG were imported during the month, valued at Rs 2,836 crore. The country's total bill on imports of petroleum products during the period stood at Rs 4,736 crore. LPG constituted around 40 per cent of the volume.
Besides LPG, the import bill included 1.32 lakh tonnes of diesel worth Rs 720 crore and 1.30 lakh tonnes of naphtha costing Rs 297 crore.
Net exporter
Of the finished product imports, the public sector's inward shipments totalled 6.98 lakh tonnes, valued at Rs 3,735 crore. While the volume of finished products imported by the private sector was of the same order, at 6.49 lakh tonnes, they were valued at just Rs 1,001 crore.
Despite the sizeable imports, India was a net exporter of finished petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel and fuel oil in April.
The country's exports of finished petroleum products such as petrol, naphtha, diesel, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil, aviation turbine fuel and others stood at 4.1 million tonnes (mt), cumulatively valued at Rs 15,687 crore.
Petrol accounted for the bulk of the exports, at 1.1 mt, valued at Rs 5,062 crore, followed by 1.4 mt of diesel worth Rs 4,397 crore.
Sizeable exports of 5.42 lakh tonnes of naphtha worth Rs 2,679 crore and 4.91 lakh tonnes of fuel oil worth Rs 1,826 crore, besides 1.94 lakh tonnes of aviation turbine fuel valued at Rs 920 crore, helped the country maintain a positive balance of trade for finished petroleum products.
Crude oil
However, if India's imports of crude oil — the raw material used for making finished petroleum products — are taken into consideration, the country was a net importer of 11.8 mt of petroleum, with the negative balance of trade amounting to Rs 48,992 crore.
India imported 14.6 mt of crude oil at a total cost of Rs 60,943 crore in April. Of this amount, public sector oil refiners imported 8.4 mt for Rs 39,197 crore, while the private sector's imports amounted to 4.4 mt at a total cost of Rs 21,746 crore.
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