The fight between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022. After this, India has saved $ 17 billion (more than Rs 1.49 lakh crore) by increasing the import of crude oil from Russia. Indirect savings are much higher than this.
Russian oil: When the fight between Russia and Ukraine started, there was an energy crisis in the world. The price of crude oil increased. In such a situation, India increased crude oil imports from Russia. US President Donald Trump has criticized India for buying oil from Russia. He has imposed 50% tariff on imports from India. Meanwhile, India refused to bow down to the pressure, saying that Russian oil imports will not stop. In such a situation, the big question is how much India is benefiting from importing oil from Russia. Let’s know.
Russian oil purchases India’s refineries save $ 17 billion
According to India Today reports, various analyzes have stated that the refineries of India bought a concessional Russian oil between April 2022 and June 2025 and saved at least 17 billion (more than Rs 1.49 lakh crore). At the same time, indirect savings have been much higher. Russia-Ukraine Jung began in February 2022.
Reuters have stated that it is estimated that India has saved more than $ 17 billion by increasing concessional oil imports from Russia in early 2022. According to other experts and reports, this savings ranges from $ 13 billion (1.14 lakh crore rupees) to $ 26 billion (Rs 2.29 lakh crore). When the US imposed a tariff against India on buying Russian oil, Russia offered 5% additional discounts to India in August.
Russia gives huge discount on oil to India
India has emerged as the second largest buyer of Russian crude oil since China in February 2022 since the invasion of Ukraine. Earlier India’s oil imports from Russia were less than 2% of the total requirements. Now it has increased to more than one third. Russia gave India a huge discount on oil due to Western sanctions. According to the report of Indian Express, India has saved at least $ 12.6 billion (Rs 1.11 lakh crore) as direct savings in 39 months. At the same time, according to the report of Reuters, India saved at least 17 billion dollars (Rs 1.49 lakh crore) from the import of Russian crude oil.
Russian oil reduced India’s expenditure in two years by more than $ 10 billion
Prior to the Ukraine War, Russia supplied negligible part of India’s oil imports. India used to take most of the oil from traditional suppliers like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. After the fight started, the Western sanctions imposed against Russia created an opportunity for India. Russia offered exemption to non-Western buyers. Indian refineries, including private legendary companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Reliance, took advantage of this.
Russian oil imports reached 2.15 million barrels per day (BPD) by May 2023. It came to about 1.78 million BPD by July 2025, which is 36% of India’s 5.2 million BPD total imports.
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Effective exemption in the first year (FY 2022-23) was 13.6% on an average. Russian crude oil was priced at $ 83.24 per barrel. It was $ 13 lower than a non-Russian average. According to the report of Indian Express, it saved $ 4.87 billion (Rs 42905 crore) on 373 million barrels of barrels. Due to this, India’s total oil import bill was reduced to $ 167.08 billion (Rs 14.72 lakh crore) to $ 162.21 billion (Rs 14.29 lakh crore).
The volume increased to 609 million barrels in FY 2023-24. Despite a low discount of 10.4% ($ 8.89 per barrel), the savings increased to $ 5.41 billion (Rs 47655 crore).