Arms Heavy To Top Crude Tap: How India-Russia Trade Has Evolved In Recent Years
Russia used to be one of the top arms' suppliers to India, and accounted for as much as 74% of defence imports to the country between 1985 and 1988.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is all set for his upcoming two-day visit to the Indian subcontinent on Dec. 4 and 5; a much anticipated guest whose visit may be adding a little more bling to an already dolled up, wedding-season-ready state.
Since his visit to the country comes at a time when India's trade relations with Russia are not only being scrutinised, but also penalised by the United States, a lot of attention has been diverted to how these relations have evolved over the years.
Russia used to be one of the top arms' suppliers to India and accounted for as much as 74% of defence imports to the country between 1985 and 1988. However, things have drastically changed over the decades, with India now meeting 65% of its defence needs through domestic manufacturing, according to NDTV Profit's calculations.
Arms import from Russia held steadily above 60% until around 2016, when they saw a sharp decline to 46%. Between 2021 and 2024, imports further fell to 34%.
India's 2025-26 annual budget had carved out more room for defence spending with budget increasing from Rs 2.53 lakh crore in 2013-14 to Rs 6.81 lakh crore in for the current fiscal year. In FY24, the indigenous defence production had hit a record Rs 1,27,434 crore, as per government data.
At the same time, on the other end of the import spectrum is India's purchase of Russian crude oil, which has received a lot of flak from the US, has seen a rapid increase.
Till 2022, oil imports from Russia had not exceeded $5 billion in value. But in 2023, India spent nearly eight times more to buy Russian oil at $39 billion. In the last two years, India has imported Russian crude oil worth $54 billion and $57 billion, respectively.
This trend, however, may tick downwards with West's new sanctions on Russia. These sanctions target two of Russia's largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in a bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin into ending the war in Ukraine. Accordingly, refiners have turned to alternatives to avoid breaching Western sanctions amid US trade tariffs.
As per news agency Reuters, oil imports from Russia are set to hit their lowest in at least three years in December, down from multi-month highs in November. Russia is India’s fourth largest trading partner with a trade volume of $68.7 billion in FY25.
