Trade between India and Russia: The effect of American pressure on trade between India and Russia can now be clearly seen. Recently released trade data has revealed that India’s imports from Russia for January 2026 have declined by 40.48 percent.
While a year ago India had imported goods worth $4.81 billion from Russia, now it has come down to just $2.86 billion. This reduction in imports from Russia is a combined result of continuous pressure from America, heavy tariffs and now the supply of crude oil from Venezuela.
Crude oil import dropped from peak
India used to import crude oil from Russia on a large scale. This was approximately 80 percent of India’s total imports from Russia. In the last three years, from 2023 to 2025, India bought a lot of crude from Russia at a discount. It was so much that Russia’s share in India’s total crude imports reached 35 percent.
In April 2025, India bought oil worth $4.73 billion from Russia. At the same time, January figures show that during this period, Russia’s crude import was about 2.3 billion dollars, which is much less than its peak. Of course, apart from oil, India keeps importing coal, coke, fertilizers, iron, pulses and precious stones from Russia, but these are not enough to compensate for the huge decline in the energy sector.
Why did India’s imports from Russia decrease?
The trade agreement between America and India is being held responsible for this huge decline in imports from Russia. Under this, the earlier 50 percent tariff imposed on India was directly reduced to 18 percent. Under this trade deal, America also removed the 25 percent tariff which was imposed as a penalty on India for purchasing oil from Russia. In return, India agreed to increase imports of energy and technology from America in the next five years. Both the countries set a target of taking mutual trade to 500 billion dollars.
India turned to Venezuela
Big refining companies of India are gradually reducing the supply of crude oil from Russia. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), which runs a large refining capacity of more than 68 million tonnes annually, had already said through a social media post on January 9 that zero crude delivery is expected from Russia in January.
Experts say that as refiners move towards Venezuelan crude, Russian imports will decline further. India was a major buyer of Venezuelan oil in 2012-13. During this period, India imported crude worth $14.10 billion from Venezuela. There was a halt in imports due to geopolitical instability and restrictions till 2021-22. On January 31, 2026, US President Donald Trump announced India’s large-scale purchase of crude from Venezuela. In such a situation, the chances of further decline in oil supply from Russia appear strong.
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