India’s US crude oil imports jump 270% amid trade talks: Reports
New Delhi: India's crude oil imports from the United States surged by more than 270% year-on-year during the first four months of 2025, as reported by The Indian Express. This sharp increase coincides with intensified trade negotiations between New Delhi and Washington, which are now in the final stages of finalizing an interim deal expected by July 9.
According to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), India imported 6.31 million tonnes of US crude between January and April 2025, up from 1.69 million tonnes in the same period last year. The US now accounts for 7% of India’s total oil imports, up from just 2% a year earlier.
In value terms, imports rose to $3.78 billion from approximately $1 billion in the year-ago period, with oil price fluctuations playing a significant role in the increase.
The report notes that India is increasing its US energy purchases as part of a broader effort to reduce its trade surplus with America and to secure more diversified and geopolitically stable sources of energy. Imports from the US rose by 63% year-on-year in April alone, helping narrow the trade surplus to $3.1 billion from $3.4 billion in April 2024.
Officials suggest this move could offer India strategic leverage over other oil-supplying nations in West Asia, especially amid regional tensions. Currently, India depends on imports for over 88% of its crude oil needs.
US President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed this energy alignment. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US earlier this year, Trump expressed hopes that the US would become India's leading supplier of oil and gas to help bridge the bilateral trade gap.
In April 2025, US crude accounted for 12% of India’s monthly oil import, up from just 4.6% in April 2024 and 4.7% in March 2025, indicating a steep upward trend.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
