No issues with India over oil payment, we don't depend on Western rules for trade, says Russia

Russia has said there are no issues regarding payments for the India-Russia oil trade and the two countries do not depend on the rules set by the West.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war in 2022, India has ramped up the purchase of discounted Russian oil. This has come under criticism in the West as Russian oil and other energy exports are key to the country’s war economy. Despite the Western criticism, the Narendra Modi government has continued to buy Russian oil with the argument that it would buy from wherever it gets the best deal for the Indian people.

The Western countries have imposed sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil, but these steps have not been able to check Russian exports.

India-Russia oil trade steady, priority to national currencies in payments: Russia

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The Russian oil deliveries to India are “steadily high” and there are no issues with payments, said Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, according to TASS news agency.

Zakharova further said that priority in payments “is given to national currencies”. She added, “This makes it possible not to depend on the so-called ‘rules of the game’ imposed by the Westerners when making banking transactions.”

Zakharova appeared to refer to the Rupee-Ruble transactional arrangement where the two countries may opt to trade in their respective national currencies instead of the US Dollar, which is the standard currency for global trade.

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Indian imports of Russian crude oil falls: Report

While India has continued to import oil from Russia, the share of Russian oil in India’s overall imports fell to a one-year-low earlier this year, according to Nikkei Asia.

The report said that Indian imports of Russian crude in January fell to a one-year-low, down 35% from last year’s peak. The reduction occurred as India diversified its sources of imports.

The report cited data from research firm Vortexa and said that Indian imports of Russian oil grew from zero in January 2022 before the beginning of the Russian war on Ukraine to 1.27 million barrels a day in January 2023 to a peak of 1.99 million barrels a day in July 2023, the year in which Russia was India’s top supplier.

In January, however, the Russian imports fell to around 1.29 million barrels per day, as per the report, which added that India was buying from other suppliers like Iraq.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri was also quoted in the report as saying that the decline in Russian imports reflected the need to “supply energy at the cheapest price”. He further said that India was importing oil from a total of 39 countries.

“Maybe the other countries will give us more discount. So much of this is subjective,” said Puri.

Puri added, “India is one of the few market[s] that is growing so fast. Now everyone has an interest to supply more to India.”