Archive · 11 Sep 2026
Modi, Putin Review India-Russia Ties as Oil Discounts Narrow
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi.
They talked about how India and Russia can work more closely in business, energy, defence and other areas.
Putin invited Modi to visit Russia for their next annual meeting.
India buys a lot of oil from Russia, but those purchases became smaller in August.
Russian oil also became less cheap compared with other oil.
The two countries want to increase their trade to $100 billion by 2030.
Most of the current trade is Russian energy sold to India, while India sells much less to Russia.
The leaders also discussed conflicts and said that dialogue and diplomacy are important.
Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin reviewed bilateral ties during the BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
The leaders discussed trade, investment, defence, energy, space, skills and people-to-people connections.
Putin invited Modi to Russia for the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit, and Modi accepted.
India’s Russian crude imports fell 26.3% month-on-month in August to 2.08 million barrels per day.
Bilateral trade reached $68.7 billion in FY25 but fell to $59.863 billion in FY26, with India running a large deficit.
- Who
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- What
- They reviewed India-Russia relations and discussed expanding economic, industrial, defence, energy and other cooperation.
- When
- Friday; the next annual summit is planned for a later date in Russia.
- Where
- On the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India.
- Why
- To strengthen bilateral ties, expand trade and investment, and address geopolitical disruptions affecting energy and maritime trade.
- Next summit
- Putin invited Modi to Russia for the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit; dates will be finalized through diplomatic channels.
- Russian crude share
- Russia supplied an average 43.3% of India’s crude imports during April-July 2026, reaching 51% in July.
- August crude imports
- India’s Russian crude imports fell 26.3% month-on-month to 2.08 million barrels per day.
- Oil discounts
- September Urals cargoes were offered at discounts of about $1-$2 per barrel to Dated Brent, while October cargoes were offered at premiums of up to $1 per barrel.
- Trade target
- India and Russia aim to raise bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030.
- Recent trade
- Bilateral trade was $68.7 billion in FY25 and $59.863 billion in FY26.
- Trade imbalance
- India’s exports to Russia were $4.88 billion, compared with imports of $55.369 billion in the reported year.