The Carousel Keeps Turning- India- Russia oil trade
Carousel- a crowd favourite ride in amusement parks- is used as a metaphor to signify that life continues and moves forward irrespective of the happenings. When this analogy is applied in the context of international trade, one relation that instantly comes to mind is that of India and Russia. Despite changing regimes, wars and upheavals, the two countries have remained committed to stable, mutually beneficial relations. February 2022 marked an inflection point in the Russia-India oil trade. That was when Russian missiles hit Ukrainian territory and turned the world oil industry on its head. Pre-2022, Russian oil accounted for below 1% of India’s oil imports and India depended largely on its middle eastern partners for supply. Post-invasion, India- Russia relations in oil trade got a shot in the arm. The value of crude oil imports from Russia rose from less than $2.5 billion in FY 2021-22 to over $31 billion in FY 2022-23 to around $140 billion in FY 2023-24, accounting for 35.9% of it...