India sharply increased crude oil purchases from the United States in the first eight months of the current financial year, even as Russia continued to
remain the country’s largest oil supplier. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India imported 178.1 million tonnes of crude oil between April and November 2025. Of this, 60 million tonnes came from Russia, while 13 million tonnes were sourced from the US. In comparison, during the same period in 2024, India had imported 165 million tonnes, including 62.4 million tonnes from Russia and just 7.1 million tonnes from the US. This marks a year-on-year jump of over 92% in crude imports from the US, with America’s share in India’s oil basket rising from 4.3% to 7.6%. Russia’s share, meanwhile, declined from 37.9% last year to 33.7% in the current fiscal period. Besides Russia and the US, key crude suppliers to India include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nigeria and Kuwait. In November 2025, India imported 7.7 million tonnes of crude from Russia, up from 7.2 million tonnes in the same month last year. Imports from the US saw a much sharper rise, jumping from 1.1 million tonnes in November 2024 to 2.8 million tonnes in November 2025, a growth of 144%. The evolving import pattern comes amid US sanctions imposed on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil in November, which disrupted some supply flows to India. While the full impact of these sanctions will be clearer once December data is released, emerging intermediaries and lesser-known suppliers are gradually stepping in to facilitate Russian crude shipments to India.
