India’s crude oil import bill surged nearly 57% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $63.4 billion during April-July of FY27, even as import volumes remained virtually unchanged, highlighting the sharp impact of elevated global crude prices on the country’s energy bill.
Crude imports rose just 0.5% to 81.9 million tonne (MT) during the four-month period, from 81.5 MT a year earlier, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). In rupee terms, the crude import bill stood at Rs 5.94 lakh crore.
The surge extended the pressure seen in the June quarter, when the crude import bill had climbed 61% y-o-y to $49.8 billion despite lower volumes.
July added to the strain. India imported 21.4 MT of crude during the month, up 13.3% from 18.9 MT in July 2025. The monthly crude import bill rose to $13.7 billion from $9.7 billion a year earlier.
The rise in import costs came as crude prices remained substantially above year-ago levels. The Indian crude basket averaged $82.04 a barrel in July, compared with $83.22 in June and $70.95 in July 2025. Brent crude averaged $83.41 a barrel in July, against $70.99 a year earlier.
India’s net oil and gas import bill widened to $57.8 billion during April-July, from $40.3 billion in the corresponding period last year. Gross petroleum imports, comprising crude oil and petroleum products, were valued at $69 billion, compared with $48.2 billion a year earlier.
The higher overall bill came despite a sharp fall in petroleum product imports. Petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) imports declined 45.1% in volume terms during April-July to 9 MT from 16.4 MT. Their value fell to $5.6 billion from $7.6 billion.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, meanwhile, increased to 11,867 million standard cubic metres (mmscm) from 11,269 mmscm. The corresponding import bill rose to $5.6 billion from $4.5 billion.
The pressure remains significant given India’s high overseas dependence. Crude oil import dependency stood at 88.3% during April-July, while domestic crude production fell to 9.1 MT from 9.5 MT. Overall oil and gas import dependence was 80.4%, marginally above 80.3% a year earlier.