India is not “profiteering” from Russian oil imports and its purchases have stabilised markets while keeping prices from rising to as much as $200 a barrel, Hardeep Singh Puri, country’s oil minister, said in the Hindu newspaper on Monday.
The U.S. has targeted India for its Russian oil purchases, with President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. to discourage the country’s crude buying.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused India of profiteering by importing Russian oil at lower prices and then reselling refined fuel at a higher rate. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Indian purchases were funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“Some critics allege that India has become a ‘laundromat’ for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Puri wrote in an editorial.
Puri’s comments come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in China at a regional summit.
India has emerged as the largest buyer of Russian seaborne oil. The country has taken advantage discounts for the oil as Russia sought new buyers after European countries and the U.S. shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Russian oil has never been sanctioned like Iranian or Venezuelan crude; it is under a G-7/European Union price cap system deliberately designed to keep oil flowing while capping revenues” Puri said.
He said every Indian oil transaction is done using “legal shipping and insurance, compliant traders and audited channels”.
“India has not broken rules. India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling”.
“The larger truth is this – there is no substitute for the world’s second largest producer supplying nearly 10% of global oil”, he added.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)