India's import of discounted Russian crude oil in May surpassed over 24 million barrels of crude oil- up from 7.2 million barrels in April and about 3 million in March. Additionally, the country is set to receive about 28 million barrels in June, news agency Reuters reported quoting the Refinitiv Eikon data.
Since February when Russia invaded Ukraine, India has received 34 million barrels of chepa Russian oil, the data said. This import is three times the value of total imports from Russia, including other products, as compared to the same period of 2021.
Interestingly, to meet its demands, India's imports from Russia have been rising, ever since Russiainvaded Ukraine in February.
India which is Asia's third largest economy and the third biggest oil importer in the world-switched to cheap Russian oil in order to cut its imports bill.
Record high increase in oil imports pushed India's total gold imports from Russia between February and May to $6.4 billion from $1.99 billion in the same period last year. However, Indian goods exports to Russia fell nearly 50% to $377.07 million over that period, because its government has not yet set up a formal payment mechanism.
It is to be noted that while Russia's counterpart, western countries responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a number of sanctions, India chose to abstain itself from voting against Russia on world forums.
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Meanwhile, India has received criticisms for its continued purchase of Russian crude oil. India has brushed off such criticism alleging that European Countries too continued purchasing Russian oil. Adding to this, India said those imports made only a fraction of the country's overall needs and it will keep buying "cheap" Russian energy, arguing a sudden stop would drive up costs for its consumers.
