India fuel consumption to hit 200 million tonnes in 2016/17 - oil ministry

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's fuel consumption is likely to hit 200 million tonnes in 2016/17, an oil ministry executive said on Monday, in what would be the highest such level in at least 16 years.

"Demand for petroleum products is increasing as the economy grows. India has the best growth amongst the large economies in the world ... we have massive hunger for petroleum products," said oil ministry Additional Secretay A K Sawhney.

India's fuel consumption surged 10.9 percent to 183.5 million tonnes in 2015/16.

A level of 200 million tones would compare to almost 1 billion tonnes in U.S. fuel consumption and to around 575 million tonnes of demand in China.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma)