‘India's Richest Families' Guilty of ‘Profiteering' From Russian Oil: US Treasury Secretary
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent's remarks also came a day after senior White House trade adviser and economist Peter Navarro wrote in a newspaper column that the proceeds from India's purchases of Russian oil – which he said are unbecoming of an American strategic partner – 'flow to India's politically connected energy titans, and in turn, into Vladimir Putin's war chest'.
Recalling in an interview to CNBC that Russian crude went from constituting less than 1% of Indian oil imports just before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to around 40% today, Bessent said that India 'is just profiteering'.
'So India is just profiteering … they're reselling, they've made $16 billion in excess profits, some of the richest families in India,' said Bessent, whose role is roughly equivalent to that of finance minister.
India's 'arbitrage' in 'buying cheap Russian oil' and 'reselling it as [a] product has just sprung up during the war, which is unacceptable', he continued.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a 25% 'penalty' tariff on India – on top of an existing 25% 'reciprocal' levy – in response to its sustained purchases of Russian oil despite Moscow's continued aggression against Ukraine.
New Delhi termed the penalty, which is scheduled to take effect on August 27, 'extremely unfortunate', saying it was being singled out 'for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest'.
When asked in the CNBC interview if China – which is the biggest importer of Russian oil ahead of India but does not face a penalty for its purchases – was not also in the wrong, Bessent said that what Beijing is doing is a 'completely different thing'.
'Well, let's go back and look at the history though … China importing is suboptimal. If you go back and look pre-'22, pre-invasion, 13% of China's oil was already coming from Russia. Now it's 16%. So China has diversified input of their oil,' he said.
The treasury secretary's remarks lambasting the 'richest families in India' – Mukesh Ambani's Reliance along with the Russian-owned Nayara are the the largest buyers of Russian oil in India – come a day after Navarro wrote that the surge in India's imports of Moscow's crude 'has not been driven by domestic oil consumption needs' but by 'profiteering by India's Big Oil lobby'.
Ambani had also met Trump ahead of his inauguration in January as well as at a state dinner organised for the president in Qatar by its Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
'The refiners buy oil at a steep discount, process it and then export refined fuels to Europe, Africa and Asia – all the while shielding India from sanctions scrutiny under the pretence of neutrality … The proceeds flow to India's politically connected energy titans, and in turn, into Vladimir Putin's war chest,' he wrote in an op-ed in the Financial Times.
Going on to call India's reliance on Russian oil 'opportunistic and deeply corrosive of the world's efforts to isolate Putin's war economy', Navarro declared that if India 'wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one'.
New Delhi, which maintains that its purchases of oil are guided by market considerations, said upon Trump's announcing his intention to ratchet up tariffs against India for its purchases of Russian crude that after the Ukraine war began, the US 'actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets' stability'.
When Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska to discuss an end to the conflict, the Ministry of External Affairs said it 'appreciates the progress made' in the two leaders' summit.
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