Vikrant Shekhawat : Aug 23, 2024, 06:00 AM
India-Russia Relation: You will remember that when Russia attacked Ukraine, all the western countries including America had imposed strict sanctions on Russia. Decisions were taken to isolate the Russian banking system from the world. At such a time, India came forward to help its old friend and bought crude oil from Russia to support its economy. India used to buy nominal Russian oil earlier, but after the sanctions, it started buying most of the oil from Russia. Despite the glaring eyes of western countries including America, India did not stop and the purchase of oil from Russia kept increasing. Now in July, India has also left China behind in terms of buying crude oil from Russia. In this way, India has become the largest importer of Russian oil in the world.India is getting 44% oil from RussiaThe reason for Chinese refineries importing less Russian oil is the low profit margin from producing fuels. Last month, Russian oil accounted for 44 percent of India's total oil imports. This is a record. Russian oil imports have risen to a record 2.07 million barrels per day. This is 4.2 per cent higher than in June and 12 per cent higher than a year earlier. News agency Reuters has given this information from trade and industry sources in a report. At the same time, China's Russian oil imports stood at 1.76 million barrels per day in July.Iraq is the second largest supplierIndian refiners are buying large quantities of Russian crude oil available at a discount. Russia is selling crude oil at a discount after sanctions by Western countries. An Indian refining source said, "Unless the sanctions are tightened further, India's oil requirement from Russia is going to increase." Since Russia began its war against Ukraine in February 2022, India's trade with Russia has grown mainly due to imports of oil and fertilizer. The move is helping to keep global prices in check and control inflation. Iraq remained India's second-largest oil supplier last month. This was followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.