What share of India's diesel do trucks burn, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) survey?

The PPAC Ready Reckoner puts trucks, meaning heavy and light commercial vehicles (HCV and LCV), at 55.40 percent of diesel use in a survey covering October 2020 to September 2021. Buses add 5.90, private cars 12.40, taxis 2.90 and three-wheelers 1.20, so road transport is 77.80 percent.

The split the table prints

The Ready Reckoner has a table headed end-use sectoral analysis of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) domestic consumption, with a pie chart next to it headed survey based sectoral diesel consumption. Each line is a percentage of total sales. The table is headed POL but the pie beside it is headed diesel and the shares match, so we read it as diesel; PPAC does not say so in words. The sums below onto the diesel total depend on that reading.

• Transport: taxis 2.90, private cars 12.40, three-wheelers 1.20, trucks (HCV and LCV) 55.40, buses 5.90. Together 77.80 percent.
• Aviation and shipping 0.80, railways 2.10, agriculture 4.80, power generation 1.60, industry 6.30, mobile towers 0.30, others 6.30. Together 22.20 percent.
• Total 100.00.

Read the date and the footnote

The footnote says the figures include consumption through retail and direct imports, and that the end-use break-up is as per a PPAC survey and the direct and retail sales reported by oil companies during October 2020 to September 2021. So this is one year of survey data, printed in the 2025-26 edition.

Our observation: that window sits inside the pandemic period, and the book does not say why the split has not been refreshed. Treat 55.40 percent as a picture of the early 2020s, not a measured 2025-26 share.

What it tells a fleet owner and what it does not

• It shows trucks are the single biggest diesel user in the country, far ahead of the next sector.
• It does not separate heavy from light commercial vehicles, long haul from city delivery, or one state from another.
• It is not a factor for your fleet. Your own litres, from fuel cards and pump slips, and your own kilometres give the number a buyer or lender can check.
• If a buyer's sustainability form asks why freight matters, this table is a fair one-line answer. Say the year of the survey.

Checking the table, then applying it to the latest diesel total (our assumption)

• Transport lines: 2.90 + 12.40 + 1.20 + 55.40 + 5.90 = 77.80 percent
• Other lines: 0.80 + 2.10 + 4.80 + 1.60 + 6.30 + 0.30 + 6.30 = 22.20 percent
• 77.80 + 22.20 = 100.00 percent, so the table adds up
• Diesel consumption in 2025-26 is 94,708 thousand tonnes (PPAC)
• If the 2020-21 split still held: 55.40 percent x 94,708 = about 52,468 thousand tonnes for trucks

The last line is our own arithmetic. PPAC does not publish a truck figure for 2025-26, and the split may have moved since the survey.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so your own diesel litres show up once uploaded. It does not read PPAC tables or tell you your share of the national total.

• Indian truck diesel mileage by size
• Emission factor per tonne-km for Indian trucks
• Fuel card statement as carbon evidence
• Free calculators

Sources: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, PPAC Ready Reckoner, year 2025-26

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Percentages and the survey period are as printed in the PPAC Ready Reckoner 2025-26 (end-use table and diesel chart). The 2025-26 truck tonnage is our own arithmetic on an older split.