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India's crude oil sourcing strategy has shown a clear shift toward lower-risk and more execution-reliable supply, with the Middle Eastern barrels gaining share as Russian crude flows remain present but increasingly selective and compliance-driven. Import of Russian crude oil dropped to around 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January, from an average of 1.21 million bpd in the previous month and over 2 million bpd imports in mid-2025, according to data from real-time analytics company Kpler. India, which is almost 90 per cent dependent on imports to meet its needs for crude oil - the raw material which is turned into fuels such as petrol and diesel in refineries, is again leaning on its traditional suppliers in the Middle-East. Iraq is now supplying almost the same volumes as Russia, up from an average of 9,04,000 bpd in December 2025, according to Kpler data. Volumes from Saudi Arabia too have risen to 9,24,000 bpd this month, from 7,10,000 bpd in December and
India imported about 144 billion euros' worth of crude oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, a European think tank said on Tuesday, estimating the Kremlin's cumulative earnings from global oil sales since February 2022 at around 1 trillion euros. India has been the second-largest buyer of Russian oil behind China, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). China bought Euro 210.3 billion worth of Russian oil since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, and another Euro 42.7 billion worth of coal and Euro 40.6 billion worth of gas. China's total buy from the beginning of the war until January 3, 2026, was Euro 293.7 billion. India, on the other hand, bought Euro 162.5 billion worth of fossil fuels - Euro 143.88 billion worth of oil and Euro 18.18 billion worth of coal - from Russia, CREA said. The European Union spent Euro 218.1 billion on buying Russian fossil fuels - Euro 106.3 billion in oil, Euro 3.5 billion on coal and Euro 108.2
The time-tested partners India and Russia moved towards more balanced, diversified economic ties in 2025, as both sides realised the need to expand bilateral trade beyond defence and energy sectors. During Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi in December, India and Russia unveiled a raft of measures, including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and addressed India's concerns over trade deficit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also conveyed to President Putin that the war in Ukraine must be brought to an end through peaceful means. Prior to his visit to India, when asked about the US threat to impose high tariffs and sanctions on Russia's key partners, Putin stated that the Indian people would not tolerate their country being bullied into making a decision that contradicted their national interests and priorities, as reported by the RT news channel. (India) will never allow itself to be humiliated by anyone. I know Prime Minister Modi, he will a
India's imports of Russian crude oil are set to register a sharp pullback in December, but the decline reflects short-term disruptions rather than a structural shift in sourcing patterns. According to real-time data analytics company Kpler, Russian crude imports into India are expected to fall to around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, down from 1.84 million bpd in November, marking the lowest level since December 2022. Indian refiners continue to buy Russian crude from non-sanctioned entities. The drop, flagged by analysts as early as October, has been driven by disruptions resulting from US action on top Russian exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as due to the impact of EU sanctions on Russian-linked product flows. "India's appetite for Russian crude cooled sharply in December, with imports falling to their lowest levels since 2022 as major refiners cut intake following sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil. This appears to be a near-term adjustment, with Russian crud
The exports of Russian spirits to India have nearly quadrupled in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year, making India an attractive emerging market for Russian exporters, according to a media report. Citing data from the Federal Centre for Agricultural Export Development of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture (Agroexport), leading financial and trade daily Vedomosti said India is emerging as an attractive market for Russian exporters of Vodka and other hard alcoholic beverages. In the first 10 months of 2025, Russian spirits producers shipped approximately 520 tonnes of spirits, including vodka, gin, whiskey, and liqueurs, worth USD 900,000 to India, this is three times higher in weight and four times higher in monetary terms than the same period last year, it said. Agroexport claims that vodka was the main driver of exports. In monetary terms, its shipments over the 10 months amounted to approximately USD 760,000. Although India ranked only 14th amo
As many as 300 products, including that of engineering goods, pharma, agri, and chemicals, hold huge potential for Indian exporters to push their shipments to Russia as the two countries target USD 100 billion trade by 2030, an official said. At present, India's exports of these goods to Russia stood at USD 1.7 billion, as against Russia's USD 37.4 billion in imports. "This stark disparity demonstrates the substantial complementary export space India can target," the official said, adding increasing exports will also help India bridge its trade deficit with Russia, which stood at USD 59 billion. These high-potential products have been selected by the commerce ministry by analysing complementary basket of products -- mapping India's supply visa-a-vis Russia's demand across key sectors, the official added. The most promising areas mirror India's rising global strengths are engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agriculture, all of which correspond to substantial unmet dema