Is India Still Buying Russian Oil? Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Weighs In

After several reports claimed that India had slashed its Russian oil imports, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of MoPNG, in a cryptic reply to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network, said oil companies were now purchasing from 42 countries instead of 27 nations, signalling at major diversification efforts.

"Purchases of oil is a complicated business. Our companies buy from a variety of sources. They used to buy from 27 countries. Now they buy from 42 countries," the Union Minister noted.

Further, he stated that India remained committed to “availability, affordability and sustainability in the executive order dated February 6, 2026.” This comes after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri mentioned that India's energy purchases will be guided by national interest.

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"We are neither dependent on any single source for this, nor do we intend to be. And it is natural for the mix of sources to vary from time to time, depending on objective market conditions. Our approach is to maintain multiple sources of supply and diversify them as appropriate to ensure stability," Misri said.

"Therefore, I would say that the more diversified we are in this area, the more secure we are. So far, as actual sourcing of energy is concerned—again, all of you follow this closely, so you know that the actual sourcing is done by oil companies. Oil companies in the public sector, oil companies in the private sector. And they make decisions based on market conditions. They assess availability at any given point in time, they assess risks, they assess costs in this process," he said.

Meanwhile, India as part of the Ind-US interim deal framework plans to buy $500 billion worth of goods from the US over the next five years, including energy products. 

The United States has also agreed upon slashing the 50% levy on India to 18%, and bringing key agricultural goods such as spices, tea, coffee and its by products, coconut, coconut oil, cashew nuts, chest nuts, fruits, and vegetables under the gambit of zero US tariffs.