- Posted by One India, last updated on 15 March, 2022

India can buy oil from Russia

According to the Daily Mail report, India, which imports 80 percent of its oil needs, usually buys only about 1 percent from Russia. But this year oil prices in India have so far increased by 40 percent and reducing oil prices is a big challenge for the Indian government, so the Indian government is considering importing crude oil from Russia at a huge discount. And the effort of the Indian government will be to bring down the domestic prices of oil by buying crude oil from Russia at a huge discount. According to the Daily Mail report, an Indian government official said that, ‘Russia is offering us oil and other commodities at huge discounts and we will be happy to take it.’ However, the Indian official did not say how much oil the Indian government would buy from Russia.

What did the Indian officer say?

The Government of India official said, “There are many different requirements for this type of business, such as transportation for the business, insurance cover, and preparatory work is required to get the right mix of crude oil.” But once these problems are worked out, then the Indian government will keep its proposal to Russia. Daily Mail quoted an Indian government official as claiming to have bought oil from Russia, which we are not confirming. This is because, during the time of Ukraine war, there are many propaganda spreading news in foreign media, so it is not possible to confirm every news. But, as India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a press conference in New Delhi last week, there are several factors that could be responsible for buying oil from Russia and the impact of the Russo-Ukraine war on oil prices and India’s oil prices. will affect the buying factor.

What did Nirmala Sitharaman say?

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last week that, “In the last two-three days, there was an offer of some kind of concession on buying oil by Russia, but we do not know how it can be effective, because many We have to weigh all the factors. We will need some port to buy oil from Russia, from where we can order the oil and see if this method of getting the oil will be viable and does it have insurance cover available? The Finance Minister said that, there are many factors, which are working behind this. Let us tell you that, Business Standard has claimed that Russia’s major oil company has offered to sell oil to India at 25-27%. Is.

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Iraq was the top crude supplier to India in 2021, accounting for 25 per cent of the country’s total crude oil imports. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia (16 per cent), UAE (11 per cent), Nigeria (8 per cent) and the US (7 per cent) were the other major suppliers to India. At the same time, if the Indian government gives a green signal to buy crude oil from Russia, then India will be the second country after China, which will become a troubleshooter for Russia trapped in war sanctions. After the Ukraine war broke out, China lifted a ban on buying Russian wheat. At the same time, neither China nor India has so far condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine and both have refrained from voting against Russia in the United Nations Security Council. At the same time, both the governments are carefully taking diplomatic steps to maintain their important trade ties with Russia. Meanwhile, the UK has announced an aid of £55.3 million for India’s space program in the budget year 2021-22, up from £41.5 million in 2020-21.

America has given a warning to India?

According to the Daily Mail report, US officials have said in recent weeks that they want India to keep as far away from Russia as possible, while, from arms and ammunition to missiles and fighter planes, India has been able to maintain its defense sector. To a large extent depends on Russia for its strength. At the same time, a ‘person’ of the Indian defense sector has said that, “Western countries are understanding India’s situation. Western countries understand that India is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China and India needs a well-supplied armed forces. At the same time, according to the report of the news agency Reuters, Indian officials are trying to establish a ‘Rupee-Ruble’ mechanism with Russia to continue bilateral trade. Russia has appealed to its “friend countries” to maintain trade and investment ties.

Suddenly changing Russia is not possible…

According to an official, apart from oil, India is also looking for cheaper fertilizers from Russia and its ally Belarus. The Indian government official said that, “we cannot suddenly replace Russia with any other suppliers, especially in the defense sector”. At the same time, in the last decade, India has drastically reduced arms imports from Russia, but even after that, India is dependent on Russia for 60 percent of its defense needs and hardware. At the same time, US officials have currently denied whether India will be banned for buying S-400 missile systems from Russia? Let us tell you that in the year 2018, India signed a $5.5 billion deal with Russia to buy five S-400 missile defense systems from Russia.

25% off India

Business Standard newspaper quoted sources as saying that, Russian oil companies have offered to give discounts of up to 25-27 percent on the old prices of crude oil. Russian oil companies have said that ‘the offers that have been made are attractive’. But, it is not easy for India to take advantage of this offer from Russian oil companies. Whereas, after the sanctions imposed on Russia, it has not been easy for India to import oil from Russia, because due to India’s ‘neutral’ policy in Ukraine crisis, there is a lot of pressure from America and Western countries on India and from the Indian government’s side. Many compulsions have been spoken about buying oil from Russia.

Opinion of western countries on India’s decision

US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Eli Ratner, told a US Congressional hearing last week that India is diversifying its defense suppliers. “We recognize that India has a complex history and relationship with Russia,” he said. Most of the weapons they buy are from Russia. The good news is that they are diversifying the process of buying weapons from different countries apart from Russia, but that is going to take some time. But they are clearly committed to doing so, including indigenization of their own defense industry, and that should be supported by us. British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also said last week that London needed to pursue closer economic and defense ties with India to help reduce its dependence on Russia.