India's fuel demand rose 8.1% in September compared with the same month last year.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.18 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry showed on Friday.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 8.8% higher from a year earlier at 2.83 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 3.5% to 2.45 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 6.4% to 1.08 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were up about 16%, while fuel oil use edged up 9% in September.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)