Amid the Russia-Ukrainian war, India did strike a deal for 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia for delivery in May. The government was seeking to offset the impact of surging oil prices by securing additional supplies from Russia at a discount, as the Russian crude was being offered at around 20% below the global benchmark.

Unfortunately, sanctions were imposed on Russia by the Western nations over its invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions caused damage to Russia’s dollar based trading. This resulted in the Indian Government’s declaration that India was not considering buying crude oil from any country with Indian Rupees.

“At present, oil public sector undertakings neither have any contract nor is any such proposal under consideration from Russia or any other country for purchase of crude oil in Indian rupees.“, junior oil minister Rameswar Teli said on Monday.

India, standing at the third position in the biggest oil importer and consumer list, is exploring paying for Russian imports in rupees but a formal mechanism has not yet been formulated, government and banking sources said. However, the government clearly restricted the trading of crude oil with Indian Rupees, as Moscow plans to trade in Yuan and Rupees with India and China.