In March, the first full month after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran, India’s crude oil imports declined 17.1% over March 2025, reflecting the disruption in the global energy supply chain caused by the conflict.
The decline in imports meant that despite a spike in global crude oil prices, India’s total crude oil import bill fell by around 5% on an annualised basis in March, according to the latest government data.
India’s crude oil imports bill fell from $12.3 billion in March 2025 to $11.7 billion in March 2025, a dip of 4.88%, according to provisional numbers released by oil ministry’s data keeper Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. In terms of volume, they fell to 18.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) as compared to 22.8 MMT in the same month of 2025.The supply chain disruption was caused mainly by a closure of the key transportation route passing through the Strait of Hormuz. One-fifth of global energy supplies pass through this.
After the war broke out, international benchmark prices of crude surged by over 64% from $72.87 per barrel on February 27 to nearly $120 a barrel in intraday trades on March 9 and remained above $100 barrel.
India’s average monthly crude import price (also called Indian basket) in March spiked by 56.6% to $113.49 a barrel as against $72.47 a barrel in March 2025, according to the government data.
