Russia supplied a record 50.83% of India’s crude oil imports in July, highlighting a significant shift in supplier preferences driven by economics and geopolitics despite ongoing G7 price-cap rules.
Russia supplied a record share of India’s crude oil imports in July, accounting for 50.83% of purchases, according to data reported by Reuters and Kpler. The flow totalled about 2.47 million barrels per day, a sharp increase from a year earlier even though volumes eased slightly from June’s peak. The figures underline how firmly Russian crude has embedded itself in India’s energy mix, despite the continued presence of G7 price-cap rules.
The rise has been driven by the economics of the trade as much as by geopolitics. According to Moneycontrol, Russian grades such as Urals and Sokol have pushed aside some traditional Middle Eastern suppliers, with Saudi shipments falling to multi-year lows. The attraction for Indian refiners is simple: even after transport costs, Russian oil has remained cheaper than many alternatives.
The buyer base in India has also broadened. Earlier in the war, private refiners such as Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy were the main purchasers, but by this summer state-run companies including Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum had also entered the market, Pravda.Ru reported. That shift points to a more systemic change in India’s procurement strategy, rather than a short-lived bargain hunt.
Payment arrangements have changed as well. The article says the earlier rupee bottleneck, which left funds stranded in India, has largely been resolved, with settlements now commonly routed through yuan, dirhams and roubles. Oilprice reported that Russian deliveries stayed near record levels even after the expiry of a US sanctions waiver in June 2026, while other reports said India remained a major buyer for Russia in the first half of the year. Taken together, the data suggest that sanctions have not broken the commercial logic binding Moscow and New Delhi, even as regional supply risks and shifting trade politics continue to reshape global oil flows.
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