New Delhi: India Saturday forcefully rejected Washington’s criticism that it is running a “profiteering scheme” by buying discounted Russian crude oil with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserting that New Delhi’s procurement has been in national and global interest.
Jaishankar emphatically said that India will continue to take decisions on the matter independently and suggested that the previous US administration was supportive of New Delhi’s procurement of Russian energy as it stabilises the oil market.
“It’s funny to have people who work for a pro-business American administration accusing other people of doing business,” Jaishankar said.
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“That’s really curious. If you have a problem buying oil or refined products from India, don’t buy it. Nobody forces you to buy it. But Europe buys, America buys, so you don’t like it, don’t buy it,” he said.
His comments at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum came when asked about US officials criticising India on its energy ties with Russia.
White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said on Wednesday that India is running a “profiteering scheme” by using discounted Russian crude oil and then selling refined petroleum products at premium prices in Europe and other places.
He made similar allegations earlier as well.
The external affairs minister also wondered why the same yardstick is not being used for China, the largest importer of Russian crude oil.
“The same arguments which have been used to target India have not been applied to the largest oil importer, which is China. (It) has not been applied to the largest LNG importer, which is the European Union,” he said.
“And when people say we are funding the war or putting money in the coffers of (President Vladimir) Putin, the Russia-European Union trade is bigger than India-Russia trade. So is Europe not putting money into Putin’s coffers,” he asked.
Jaishankar acknowledged that India’s procurement of Russian crude oil has gone up in the last few years and noted that it is driven by national interests.
“That’s our right. In my business, we would say that’s what strategic autonomy is about,” he said.
“We are buying (Russian) oil to stabilise the oil market. Yes, it is in our national interest. We have never pretended otherwise, but we also say it is in global interest.”
India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Consequently, from a mere 1.7 per cent share in total oil imports in 2019-20, Russia’s share increased to 35.1 per cent in 2024-25, and it is now the biggest oil supplier to India.
In his remarks, Jaishankar said there were discussions between New Delhi and the previous administration in Washington on the procurement of Russian crude oil.
“There were a series of very explicit conversations, saying, we have no issues with your buying,” he said and referred to the G7 price cap on Russian crude oil.
“The fact that you devised the price cap meant that you accept that there’s an oil trade going on with Russia. Otherwise you wouldn’t need a price cap.”
“In 2022, there was deep nervousness because oil prices were going up. There was great international nervousness about the price of oil. And there was a set of conversations with different people in the American administration at that time,” Jaishankar said.
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