India 's crude oil imports in April rose 6% from a year earlier, helped by an expanding economy and as growing auto sales boosted demand for transportation fuels.

The South Asian nation, which meets almost four-fifths of its crude oil requirements through overseas buys, saw April imports rise to 15.84 million metric tons, or 3.87 million barrels a day, from a year earlier's 14.96 million tons, or 3.66 million barrels a day, the website of the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed Wednesday.

Factory output in India rose 7.3% year-on-year in March, the latest month for which numbers are available, while car sales in the fiscal year ended March 31 grew 13% to 162,825 units, helped by new model launches and rising middle-class income. Demand for transportation fuels also got a boost from elections in five provinces.

Refiners like Bharat Petroleum Corp. (500547.BY), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. (500104.BY) and Indian Oil Corp. (530965.BY) deferred refinery shutdowns planned in April and May to September and beyond to meet higher local demand.

Refinery runs at India 's 20 refineries during the month rose 4% to 16.71 million tons, or 4.08 million barrels a day, the data showed.

India 's total oil product sales in April rose 4.2% to 12.63 million metric tons from a year earlier, the PPAC data showed.

Diesel sales in April rose 1.4% to 5.47 million tons from 5.39 million tons a year earlier, according to the government body under the oil ministry.

Gasoline sales rose 7.4% to 1.20 million tons from 1.12 million tons.

Demand for diesel and gasoline is expected to increase in India --the world's second-fastest growing major economy--driven by rising income levels and higher vehicle sales. Diesel and gasoline account for the bulk of India 's oil products consumed.

Private sector and state-run refiners in India are increasing refining capacities across the board through new refineries as well as brownfield expansion projects to become a refining hub for the Asian region and to meet fast-growing local demand.

Although India is a net importer of crude oil, it is a net exporter of oil products.

Neighboring China curbed exports of gasoline and diesel in April as the government limited outbound shipments as part of efforts to safeguard domestic supplies in the upcoming summer season.

China's exports of refined products is expected to fall further this month after its top refiner by capacity, China Petrochemical Corp., said it halted oil product exports to meet robust local demand.

India 's cooking gas sales rose 8.3% in April to 1.17 million tons from a year earlier. Kerosene sales was almost flat at 748,000 tons.

India , which imported 163.51 million tons of crude oil in the past fiscal year, expects its crude oil import to rise in the current financial year as it commissioned a 120,000-barrels-a-day refinery at Bina in the central state of Madhya Pradesh Friday. It expects to start a 180,000-barrels-a-day refinery at Bathinda in the north in June.

Oil product imports in India fell 8% to 957,000 tons from 1.04 million tons a year earlier, the website showed. Oil products exports in April rose 10% to 4.46 million tons from 4.04 million tons.

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