Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, has seen a 10 per cent drop in fuel sales in January while the public sector firms recorded robust growth.

RIL fuel sales dipped 10.3 per cent in January to 1.256 million tons as against 1.399 million tons a year ago on massive drop in diesel and petrol sales, according to the latest data available with the petroleum ministry.

The company, which sells auto fuels at a price higher than public sector firms and is not entitled to state compensation, posted a 44.9 per cent drop in diesel sales to 208,400 tons and a 12.7 per cent reduction in petrol sales to 40,300 tons.

In April-January, RIL saw a 5.4 per cent dip in sales to 11.22 milion tons as diesel sales dropped 41.9 per cent to 1.62 million tons.

State-run Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are entitled to compensation from government in the form of oil bonds for selling fuel below their cost of production. Private retailers like Reliance are not party to the compensation mechanism.

IOC posted a 10.9 per cent rise in sales to 4.46 million tons in January and 4.4 per cent to 41.43 million tons in April-January. The company saw a 15 per cent growth in diesel sales to 1.68 million tons while petrol sales rose 9.3 per cent to 265,100 tons.