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In March, the full month before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, India’s crude oil imports declined by 17.1% compared to March 2025, reflecting disruption in the global energy supply chain due to the conflict.
The decline in imports meant India’s total crude oil import bill fell nearly 5% on-year in March, despite rising global crude prices, according to the latest government data.
India’s crude oil import bill fell to $11.7 billion in March 2025 from $12.3 billion, a decline of 4.88%, according to provisional data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, the oil ministry’s data keeper. In volume terms, they fell to 18.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) compared to 22.8 MMT in the same month of 2025. The disruption in the supply chain was mainly caused by the closure of the major transportation route passing through the Strait of Hormuz. One fifth of the global energy supply passes through here.
After the war broke out, international benchmark prices of crude oil rose 64% from $72.87 a barrel on February 27 to nearly $120 a barrel in intraday trades on March 9 and remained above $100 a barrel.
India’s average monthly crude import price (also known as the Indian basket) rose 56.6% to $113.49 per barrel in March, compared to $72.47 per barrel in March 2025, according to government data.
With an uneasy and fragile ceasefire in West Asia threatening to break down, the situation looks dire. In the past week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked people to be prudent in their consumption of both energy and foreign exchange. The rupee has weakened by 6.5% against the dollar since January 1.
Cumulatively, India ended FY 2025-26 with crude oil imports worth $123.10 billion or more ₹10,88,904 crores. In dollar terms, this is 10.27% lower than the $137.20 billion spent in 2024-25, and 6.17% lower in rupee terms. This is despite year-on-year growth in volumes. The data shows that in 2024-25, the country imported 243.2 MMT of crude oil, which increased to 245.4 MMT in 2025-26, an increase of 0.9%. Low and stable oil prices helped India for most of the year.
India’s state-owned oil companies have performed well in the fiscal year, people familiar with the matter said.
“HPCL [Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd] Two other large state-owned companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), are also likely to outperform HPCL, this person said. IOC is likely to declare its financial results on May 18 and BPCL on May 19.
State-run HPCL on Wednesday announced 46% rise in net profit for Q4FY26 ₹Rs 4,901.50 crore compared to Rs. ₹3,355 crore in Q4FY25. HPCL’s net profit for the full financial year (FY26) was ₹17,175 crore, an increase of 133% compared to ₹7,365 crore in FY25. The company also announced final dividend ₹Rs.19.25 per equity share having face value ₹10 for FY26, which is in addition to the interim dividend ₹5 per equity share.
However, experts have cautioned about the financial performance in the current financial year as the sharp rise in crude oil prices since March could impact the Q1 (Q1FY27) performance due to the emerging geopolitical situation.
Oil Minister Hardeep Puri recently said that Indian oil companies are in losses together ₹1000 crore per day because they have not increased the retail fuel prices yet.
