India will continue to buy Russian oil because it is economical, its finance minister said on Friday, despite the Trump administration’s decision to impose heavy import prices on Indian products due, in part, to its energy purchases in Moscow.
While Europe and the United States have avoided Russian oil on the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in Moscow, India took advantage of the Russian production to become the largest Russian sea crude buyer.
New Delhi said its Russian oil purchases had maintained the markets in balance.
Find out more: India suggests a `zero price agreement ‘on American products, says Trump
US President Donald Trump, who is looking to end the Ukrainian conflict, said India oil imports were helping to finance Moscow’s war effort and imposed a 50% rate on imports from India last month.
The Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking on the local news channel CNN-News18, said that India, the third largest importer and consumer of world oil, did not intend to avoid Russian supplies.
“We will have to take an appeal that (the source of supply) suits us best. So we will undoubtedly buy it,” she said, adding that India spends most of its foreign exchange on the purchases of crude oil and refined fuels.
The US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick urged India on Friday to support the dollar, to resume commercial discussions with Washington and to stop buying Russian oil.
“We are always ready to speak. The Chinese sell us. The Indians sell us. They will not be able to sell each other to each other. We are the consumer of the world,” said Libnick in an interview with the “Bloomberg Surveillance” program.
“Either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest customer – who is the American consumer – or, I assume that you will pay a 50%price. And see how long it lasts.” He predicted that India will return in one or two months, apologizes to Trump and will look for a trade agreement.
During the financial year in March 2025, purchases of fuel in oil and refined fuels abroad represented approximately a quarter of the global imports of India.
“Whether it is Russian oil or anything else, it is our decision to buy at the right place for our needs, whether in terms of rate, logistics, anything,” added Sitharaman.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Tianjin this week that Chinese President Xi Jinping organized as a demonstration of solidarity against the West.
Modi’s participation in meetings, nicknamed “the axis of upheavals” by certain observers, alongside country leaders such as North Korea and Myanmar was considered by certain experts as a consequence of the fall of New Delhi with Washington.
The talks between the two nations aimed at negotiating an agreement to reduce the American tariff burden on Indian products have collapsed.
Last month, a planned visit to US trade officials in New Delhi was canceled, and there were no physical meetings between the two parties.
The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused India of taking advantage of Russian oil at lower prices, then returning from refined fuel at a higher rate.
Trump on Friday, in an article on a social media platform, commented the presence of Putin and Modi in China.
“It looks like we have lost India and Russia with the deepest and darkest China. Let them have a long and prosperous future together!” He wrote.
