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Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday that he questioned the central government on US President Donald Trump’s claim. He said – Trump raised the issue of India’s oil import from Russia three times in the last five days, there is no doubt that he will reiterate this further before meeting Putin in Budapest this week.
He said- President Trump says that he spoke to his good friend Prime Minister Modi and India assured him to stop oil imports from Russia. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has denied knowledge of any such conversation, but President Trump has refuted the ministry’s statement.
When did Trump make statements?
- 15 October: I spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. He assured me that India will not buy oil from Russia, this is a big step.
- 17 October: India will not buy oil from Russia, they used to buy 38% earlier and are now ‘pulling back’.
- 19 October: I spoke to Prime Minister Modi and he said that he will not import oil from Russia. If they want to say that it didn’t happen, they will have to pay huge tariffs and they won’t have to do that.
October 16: India denied the call between Trump and Modi
Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in a press briefing on October 16 that there was no conversation between PM Modi and President Trump on Wednesday.
On Trump’s claim, Jaiswal had said that India is a big buyer of oil and gas. Protecting the interests of the public has been our priority. Our import policies serve this purpose. Energy policy has two goals, firstly to set stable prices and secondly to maintain secure supply.
Jaiswal had said that for this we broaden the energy sources and diversify according to the market conditions. As far as the United States is concerned, we have been trying to expand our energy purchases for many years. There has been continuous progress in this in the last decade.
Jaiswal said that the US administration has shown interest in increasing energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing on this. (file photo)
The purpose of ban on India is to put pressure on Russia
America has imposed economic sanctions on India to put pressure on Russia. Trump has many times claimed that Russia promotes war in Ukraine with the money received from India’s oil purchases. The Trump administration has been calling the economic action taken against India for taking oil from Russia as penalty or tariff.
Trump has imposed a total of 50 tariffs on India so far. There is a 25% reciprocal i.e. tit-for-tat tariff and a 25% penalty on purchasing oil from Russia. Reciprocal tariffs came into effect from August 7 and penalties from August 27. According to White House Press Secretary Carolina Levitt, its purpose is to put secondary pressure on Russia, so that it can be forced to end the war.
India bought 34% oil from Russia in September
Despite Trump’s claims, Russia remains India’s largest oil source. According to data from commodity and shipping tracker Kleppler, New Delhi accounted for 34 percent of incoming shipments in September alone. However, there was a 10 percent decline in imports in the first eight months of 2025.
According to the agency data, India imported an average of 1.72 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Russia in the month of August 2025. At the same time, in September this figure decreased slightly to 1.61 million bpd.)
According to experts, this cut has been made to bring diversification in American pressure and supply. On the contrary, private refinery companies like Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy have increased their purchases.
Government refineries cut Russian imports
Government companies (like IOC, BPCL, HPCL) reduced Russian oil imports by more than 45%. Output fell to 600,000 bpd in September from 1.1 million bpd in June.
At the same time, private refineries (Reliance Industries: 850,000 bpd, Nayara Energy: ~400,000 bpd) balanced this, due to which the total supply was not affected.
How did buying cheap oil from Russia start?
February Europe imposed sanctions on Russian oil after the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022. After this Russia diverted its oil towards Asia. According to media reports, India imported only 0.2% of Russian oil in 2021.
It became India’s largest oil supplier in 2025. Supplying an average of 1.67 million barrels per day. This is about 37% of India’s total requirement.
Why doesn’t India stop buying oil from Russia? India has many direct benefits of buying oil from Russia…
- Cheap oil from other countries: Russia is still giving cheaper oil to India than other countries. However, the discount which was earlier up to $30 per barrel has now come down to $3-6 per barrel.
- Long-Term Contracts: Indian private companies have long term contracts with Russia. For example, in December 2024, Reliance signed a contract with Russia to buy 5 lakh barrels of oil per day for 10 years. It is not possible to break such agreements overnight.
- Impact on global prices: India’s Russian oil imports help keep global oil prices stable. If India stops buying oil from Russia, global supply may reduce, causing prices to rise. After the war with Ukraine, oil prices reached $ 137 per barrel in March 2022.
Apart from Russia, which countries do India have options to buy oil from? India imports more than 80% of its oil needs. Apart from Russia, it buys most of the oil from countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and America. If Russia wants to stop oil imports then it will have to increase its imports from these countries…
- Iraq: It is India’s second largest oil supplier after Russia, which provides about 21% of our imports.
- Saudi Arabia: The third largest supplier, which supplies 15% of our oil needs (about 7 lakh barrels per day).
- America: In January-June 2025, India imported 2.71 lakh barrels of oil daily from America, which is double the previous figure. US share in India’s oil imports to reach 7% in July 2025.
- South African country: Nigeria and other South African countries also supply oil to India and government refineries are turning towards these countries.
- Other countries: Murban crude from Abu Dhabi (UAE) is a big option for India. Apart from this, India has also started importing oil from Guyana, Brazil, and other Latin American countries. However, buying oil from them is usually more expensive than Russian oil.
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Also read these news related to Modi-Trump…1.
1. Trump said-I have heard that India will stop buying oil from Russia: Report claims- India is still taking oil from Moscow
US President Trump said on Friday that there are reports that India will not buy oil from Russia for long. However, he said that he was not aware of the authenticity of these reports. But if this happens then it will be a good thing. Let’s see what happens next. Read the full news…
2. Petroleum Minister said – Petrol and diesel prices may decrease: If the price of crude oil remains at $ 65 per barrel, then reduction is possible in 2-3 months.
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