India's Russian oil profits plunge as Trump's 50% tariffs kick in and White House offers a deal

India’s $17 billion in oil savings is evaporating ￰0￱ reason? Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods officially took effect Wednesday, and the hit is ￰1￱ to Reuters, trade analysts expect India’s exports to shrink by over 40%, a $37 billion blow in this April–March fiscal ￰2￱ crater is coming straight for labor-heavy industries like gems, textiles, and ￰3￱ sectors are employment ￰4￱ of thousands of jobs are now hanging by a ￰5￱ Minister Narendra Modi hasn’t made a direct statement, but his silence is already costing ￰6￱ elections coming up in Bihar, a key rural state, his voter base is on edge. He’s responded with tax relief pledges, including a plan to slash goods and services taxes by ￰7￱ ￰8￱ are a direct response to India’s increased trade with Russia, particularly in ￰9￱ sees the flow of discounted oil as undermining Western pressure on ￰10￱ refuses to stop buying oil as ￰11￱ heat up Since early 2022, India’s oil imports from Russia have ￰12￱ crude now accounts for nearly 40% of all oil India buys, up from virtually nothing before the Ukraine ￰13￱ companies like Reliance Industries, owned by Mukesh Ambani, lead those purchases, and they’ve locked in discounts as high as 7% below global ￰14￱ that volume overnight is out of the ￰15￱ imports around 2 million barrels of Russian oil per ￰16￱ it stops, internal government estimates say global oil could surge to $200 per ￰17￱ one in New Delhi wants to carry that blame.

India’s foreign ministry has defended the Russian oil purchases as “meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer,” calling them a necessity forced by global ￰18￱ the same time, officials are accusing Washington of ￰19￱ while Trump attacks India over crude, the ￰20￱ buys Russian uranium hexafluoride, palladium, and fertilizer. India’s diplomats also point out that China’s oil imports from Russia have jumped from 13% to 16%, yet no penalties have landed on ￰21￱ Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on CNBC last week, said India’s behavior amounts to profiteering, calling the volume of post-war purchases “unacceptable.” That interview triggered the latest wave of ￰22￱ argues that the Biden administration had previously supported its Russian oil purchases in order to help keep global fuel prices stable.

Trump’s reversal now puts Modi in a bind—with Russia relying on India to maintain oil exports and the ￰23￱ long-term trade ￰24￱ juggles diplomacy as rivals eye its market share In recent days, Indian diplomats have made trips to Moscow to smooth ￰25￱ is also expected to visit China this month, the first in over seven years, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. He’ll meet both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping ￰26￱ Indian officials say no trilateral summit is ￰27￱ with Beijing is still fragile following the 2020 border clash, and Delhi is playing ￰28￱ Jacob, who leads the Council for Strategic and Defence Research in Delhi, laid out India’s tightrope ￰29￱ said the country still needs Russia for weapons, oil, diplomatic support, and help on key political ￰30￱ he also called the U.

S. India’s most important strategic partner, noting: “India simply doesn’t have the luxury of choosing one over the other, at least not yet.” The U. S.–India fallout is already affecting more than just oil and ￰31￱ say visa access for Indian tech workers and the offshoring of services may be the next friction ￰32￱ even if India manages to claw back some relief from the tariffs, the long-term effects could be ￰33￱ Srivastava, founder of GTRI and a former trade official, warned that countries like Vietnam, China, Mexico, Turkey, Pakistan, Nepal, Guatemala, and Kenya are ready to snap up the markets India is being forced out of. “They could lock India out of key markets even after tariffs are rolled back,” Srivastava ￰34￱ seen where it ￰35￱ in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.