Mr. Prashant Vasisht, Senior Vice President and Co-Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA Ltd.
“The announcement of US-India trade deal reportedly includes removing the 25% penal tariffs on India, with the latter agreeing to stop purchase of crude oil from Russia. Additionally, India is to step up purchase of US crude oil and potentially start buying oil from Venezuela. For the Indian refining sector, there are ample avenues including the US, to purchase crude as Russian crude accounted for less than 2% of Indian crude imports prior to FY2023. The discounts on Russian crude oil were marginal prior to US announcing sanctions on some Russian crude suppliers in October 2025, and ICRA estimates that replacement of Russian crude with market priced crude would lead to an increase in the import bill of the country by less than 2%. Additionally Venezuelan crudes are heavy and sour and therefore cheaper and would be of interest to Indian refiners, many of whom can process these types of crudes.”