The declining trend owes to market conditions and New Delhis diversification of sources, Hardeep Puri has told Bloomberg

India's oil imports from Russia are expected to continue declining as New Delhi diversifies its sources, a top official has said.

New Delhi's purchases of oil from Russia have alreadydroppedto 1.3 million barrels per day from an average of 1.8 million barrels last year, Oil Minister Hardeep Puri told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday.

"There is a declining trend. These are market-driven conditions," Puri said.

The remarks come amid increasing pressure from Washington to stop buyingRussian oil in recent months as the White House sought to compel Moscow to settle the Ukraine conflict.

Puri said that Indian oil companies are making their own decisions on purchases and that the government does not provide any mandate.

He added that the country is now in a position to diversify its oil suppliers and currently makes purchases from 41 nations. Indian companies are keen to boost oil imports from Canada and the US, Puri told the news outlet.

India faces a 25% punitive tariff on exports to the US for its purchases of Russian oil. This is in addition to a 25% tariff that was imposed on the South Asian nation after New Delhi and Washington failed to reach a trade deal in 2025.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer claimed that New Delhi hadmade progressin slashing Russian oil purchases.

"They like the discount that you get from Russian oil, so it's hard for them. The Treasury Department has put into place, you know, a few weeks ago now, more significant sanctions, so we expect India to continue to wind that down, but we're watching it closely," he told Fox News on Tuesday.

Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that India hadhalted Russian oil purchasesafter the US imposed a 50% tariff on the South Asian nation.

India, the world's third-largest oil consumer, became a key market for Russian crude following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Since then, Russia has been the South Asian nation's top oil supplier, data from analytics firm Kpler shows.

(RT.com)