Indian companies make billions by buying cheap oil from Russia, know the profit

Indian refining companies have made bumper profits by buying cheap oil from Russia. According to the report, between April 2022 and May 2024, Indian refining companies have saved at least $10.5 billion by buying discounted Russian oil.

Western countries have stopped importing oil from Russia since Russia’s action on Ukraine in February 2022. In such a situation, Russia is exporting oil to India at discounted prices to maintain its economy. Indian oil refining companies also took this offer with both hands and in a few months Russia became the largest oil exporting country to India.

According to a report in the English newspaper Indian Express, according to the data available on the website of the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of India, Indian refining companies have saved at least $ 10.5 billion in foreign currency between April 2022 and May 2024 by accelerating the purchase of discounted crude oil from Russia. This amount is equivalent to about 892 billion in Indian rupees. 

India has been buying huge quantities of crude oil from Russia since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. However, due to this, it has faced diplomatic criticism many times. But India has been insisting that it is the world’s third largest consumer of crude oil with more than 85 percent import dependence. In such a situation, energy security is of utmost importance to it.

In fact, India is the third largest crude oil importing country in the world. India fulfills more than 85 percent of its total requirement by importing crude oil. Crude oil is also at the top of India’s trade list in terms of value. 

Bumper earnings in two years

According to DGCIS data, India imported a total of $139.86 billion worth of oil in the financial year 2023-24. Analysis shows that if Indian refining companies had imported oil from any other country instead of Russia, they would have had to pay $145.29 billion. That is, they would have had to pay $5.43 billion more. Similarly, India’s total oil import bill in the financial year 2022-23 was $162.21 billion.

If Indian refining companies had imported oil from any other country instead of Russia, they would have had to pay $4.87 billion more. Indian refining companies have benefited by at least $235 million due to Russian discounts in April and May 2025 alone.

However, this saving may seem very less compared to India’s total foreign trade. But the point to note here is that this saving has happened to only five Indian refining companies.