Exclusive | Is India ending Russian crude imports? What RTI data shows
RTI reply shows HPCL’s Russian oil imports were at 0 in Aug, after Indian refiners made hay for months with discounted crude; Trump pressure behind the move?
India, for all practical purposes, seems to have stopped buying crude oil from Russia. This follows sustained pressure from US President Donald Trump and his misplaced assertion that the proceeds from the purchases are being used by Russia to fund its war against Ukraine.
That India could be winding down its Russian crude imports is suggested by the reply to an RTI (Right to Information Act) query raised by The Federal with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), a public sector oil marketing company and among the canalising agencies handling Indian crude imports. The data reveals that the company’s import of Russian crude fell to zero in August.
External Affairs Ministry officials have been steadfastly denying any suggestions, especially by the Opposition, of the Centre bowing to US pressure, but the RTI response suggests otherwise.
HPCL’s import data
The Federal sought a monthly breakdown of crude imports from Russia between January 2022 and September 2025 by the Government of India. While HPCL sent a reply, its PSU (public sector undertaking) peers have not responded, citing confidentiality clauses.
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According to HPCL, the company imported crude continuously from April 2022 to July 2025, the lowest being 131 TMT in February 2025 and the highest, 1,146 TMT in October 2024. But there were exceptions even then, when HPCL showed zero imports — in August 2022 and October 2022.
The table furnished by HPCL as part of the RTI reply shows zero imports in August 2025. This coincides with the onset of punitive American tariffs. Trump took on the Modi government not only for what he called “massive” Indian import tariffs, but also its purchase of crude from Russia.
Steady escalation
According to RTI data from HPCL, in the January-March 2022 quarter—just as the Russia-Ukraine conflict began—the PSU imported no Russian crude. After that, there was an escalating reliance on Russian supplies.
Volumes exploded from mid-2022, as Urals-grade oil traded at $20-30 discounts to Brent benchmarks, driven by its heavy, high-sulfur profile suiting HPCL's refineries. (Urals-grade oil is a mix of heavy, sour oil from the Urals and Volga regions with lighter oil from Western Siberia. It serves as the benchmark for Russian oil export pricing.)
By FY24, Russian crude comprised 13 per cent of HPCL's total processing.
While specifics on inter-company breakdowns remain under wraps as "commercial confidence," HPCL clarified it has not received specific notifications or guidelines from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) on Russian imports from 2022 till now. It relied, instead, on general procurement norms.
Confidentiality clauses
HPCL’s RTI disclosure, though revealing, is limited in its scope, as other canalising agencies such as Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and ONGC's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) declined to share similar information, citing confidentiality clauses.
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IOCL, the nation's largest refiner, turned down RTI queries under Section 8(1)(d), protecting third-party commercial confidence. Per media reports, the PSU buys crude at $1.5 per barrel discounts to Dubai benchmarks. BPCL and MRPL sourced 35-40 per cent of their crude from Russia in Q3 FY25.
Media reports further say Reliance, which is exempt from RTI since it is a private firm, has processed vast volumes of Russian crude at its Jamnagar refinery, exporting refined products to the West at premiums. This is estimated to have fuelled a 2 per cent EBITDA boost, even as the company insists it is sanctions-compliant.
Indian imports
The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), a key unit of the MoPNG, rejected The Federal’s RTI query on September 11, 2025, terming the information "commercial and confidential" and exempt under Sections 8(1)(d) and (e) of the RTI Act, 2005.
The request, filed by The Federal on September 10 and routed through MoPNG, had sought granular breakdowns of crude imports by Russia.
India imports more than 85 per cent of its crude requirements. Per reports, in fiscal 2024-25, the country imported more than 230 million tonnes of crude, with the dominant suppliers being Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, among others. But the exact shares are not known, as only aggregate volumes are revealed without naming sources.
Cheap Russian crude
As Western sanctions slashed the dependence of European markets on Russian crude, India emerged as a top buyer. The cheaper Russian crude purchases saved India an estimated $10-15 billion annually on import bills.
Read/Watch | India caught in crossfire as US sanctions jolt Russian oil trade | Capital Beat
Meanwhile, Trump's narrative on India's Russian crude imports lends itself to scepticism. Former US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, confirmed a post-Ukraine invasion consensus, where Washington urged New Delhi to step in as a buyer of Russian crude to avert a global energy crisis amid Western sanctions on Russia.
Garcetti said in May 2024, "India bought Russian oil because we wanted somebody to buy (it)."
Meanwhile, media reports indicate that state refiners HPCL, IOCL, and BPCL paused spot Russian crude purchases in July-August 2025, resuming tentatively in September without formal government directives. "No direction to buy or stop," HPCL Chairman Vikas Kaushal said in a recent press meet.
Kpler’s observations
Independent trade data and analytics firm Kpler says India has been purchasing at least 40 per cent of its total requirements from Russia, outpacing imports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq in volume terms. Russian oil is relatively cheaper and has immensely benefitted the Indian oil industry, especially the private sector.
From October 2023 to mid-October 2025, Russian volumes averaged 1.735 million tonnes monthly, accounting for 40.8 per cent of India's 4.26 million tonne average imports. This outpaced Iraq (936,000 tonnes) and Saudi Arabia (645,000 tonnes), says Kpler.
Year-to-date through October 14, 2025, Russia supplied over 17.5 million tonnes, peaking at 47.8 per cent of the total in June 2024 before stabilising at 37-41 per cent.
Media reports say most private sector players in India were importing Russian crude oil at low rates before the US sanctions set in, and refining it into fuels that they exported at premium prices.
