India had significantly increased its purchases of Russian crude following the Russia–Ukraine conflict, driven by attractive discounts. Russia remained India’s largest oil supplier in the first half of 2025, accounting for 35% of total supplies.
Previously, Russian crude was available at a discount of $10–16 per barrel, but this has now narrowed to around $2.5–4 per barrel. “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high… Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine— all things not good!” Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Meanwhile, India has already increased its imports from the US, as per S&P Global Commodity Insights, India imported nearly 271,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from the US in the January-June 2025 period, a 51% increase from 180,000 bpd during the same period last year.
According to a report by Reuters, Indian oil refiners stopped buying Russian crude over the past week amid narrowing price discounts and renewed pressure from US President Donald Trump. The companies have not placed any purchase order for Russian crude last week.