India has rejected White House Trade advisor Peter Navarro's comments on New Delhi for its procurement of Russian crude oil, calling them 'inaccurate and misleading'. The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods.
India's brittle energy security is inextricably linked to two opposing paradigms - fossil fuels, and the transition to green energy. The first powers the present; the second paves the way for Viksit Bharat in 2047.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday 'deeply' appreciated United States President Donald Trump's 'positive assessment' of the India-US partnership after the American leader hailed the 'special' relationship between the two nations -- remarks seen as an attempt to check the downturn in the ties.
Fuel loading at India's first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Kalpakkam is expected to start next week, marking a significant step in the country's nuclear program.
Microsoft Corp has restored all services -- including email access -- to Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, just before a scheduled hearing in the Delhi high court over the service suspension.
New Delhi has reached out to Moscow while waiting for a new president in Washington. New Delhi knows well that in international relations, there are no permanent friends or foes, only permanent national interests, points out Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Plans for big bang reforms in the GST regime by Diwali, the Putin-Trump summit and S&P upgrading India's sovereign credit rating are likely to instil optimism in the domestic equity market in the week ahead, analysts said. Besides, trends in global markets and the trading activity of foreign investors would also impact domestic investors' sentiment.
The Trump administration has told the US Supreme Court that it imposed tariffs against India for purchasing Russian energy products as part of its strategy to address the war in Ukraine.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, spent 112.5 billion euro (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore) on buying crude oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, a European think tank said on Thursday. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released a report on payments to Russia for fossil fuels since February 24, 2022. "According to our estimates, since the beginning of the war, Russia earned EUR 835 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports," it said.
Speaking shortly after, Trump stated he had yet to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but would do so imminently, along with other European leaders. He suggested a formal deal was not yet in place.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the world is facing "profound imbalances" in trade and energy security, and is undergoing a structural transformation, with India standing out as a 'stabilising force' that can withstand external shocks.
India and Russia always stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" even in the most difficult situations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, against the backdrop of possibly the worst phase in New Delhi's ties with the US in over two decades.
The Trump administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in the US election, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure, said Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin.
India's annual oil import bill could rise by $9-11 billion if the country is compelled to move away from Russian crude in response to US threats of additional tariffs or penalties on Indian exports, analysts said. India, the world's third-largest oil consumer and importer, has reaped significant benefits by swiftly substituting market-priced oil with discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
India-US relations, like Rome, were not built in a day, nor can they be demolished in a day.
All said and done, when the new global order emerges, India can only remain with the democracies, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
However, the IAF will face difficulties for a month or two in getting spare parts for its defence equipment from Russia to India, he added.
He added that India sells to the US, its biggest "client", "massive" amounts of goods, "but we sell them very little - Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades."
Russia has been grappling with sanctions slapped by the US and its allies over Moscow's invasion of Crimea.
If India caves in to US pressure as Trump hopes it will, he will further try to blackmail it into submission, points out Ramesh Menon.
The government has no say in where the country's refiners source oil from because these are commercial transactions.
The bill sanctions Russia -- citing its cyberhacking as well as aggression in Ukraine and Syria -- while also slapping new sanctions on North Korea and Iran.
Foreign investors offloaded Indian equities worth nearly Rs 21,000 crore in the first half of August, pressured by US-India trade tensions, lacklustre first-quarter corporate earnings, and a weakening rupee.
We urge all of our allies and partners to forgo transactions with Russia that would trigger sanctions under CAATSA, the US said.
India's trade deficit with Russia continued to widen for the second consecutive year to $57 billion in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), with Moscow becoming New Delhi's largest source of crude oil imports. All eyes will now be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia during July 8-9, where he is set to meet President Vladimir Putin. This will be Modi's first visit to the Kremlin since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began over two years ago.
'Indian refiners can operate without Russian crude from a technical standpoint, but the shift would involve major economic and strategic trade-offs'
Among Sensex firms, Eternal, Infosys, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Titan were the major gainers. However, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports and Bharat Electronics were among the laggards.
India and the US have collaborated through the past one month on launching a powerful satellite; are commencing joint production of GE Aerospace's F414 jet engines in India; India is participating in a massive three week-long military exercise in the Western Pacific, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
According to the original timeline, the ships were to be delivered by 2022, they said, attributing the delays in the delivery to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The number of American diplomats in the US Embassy in Moscow and its four consulates across the country should be reduced to 455 by September 1, which is the same as the number of Russian diplomats currently serving in the US.
Amid trade tensions between Delhi and Washington, the NYT article gives an account of how relations between Trump and Modi "unraveled" after Trump's repeated claims of solving the four-day conflict in May between India and Pakistan, an assertion denied by India.
United States President Donald Trump has warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the 'ridiculous war' in Ukraine or face high tariffs and further sanctions.
'Things may get much worse before they get better,' predicts Ajay Chhibber.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, in July bought $2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China which remains the largest importer of Russian oil, a report said. Russia emerged as India's biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil was available on discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
'Modi's a great leader... But I don't understand why he's getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping...'
India reasserted that Pakistan requested a cessation of firing via DGMO contact and addressed concerns about Pakistan's roles in UNSC committees.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is estimated to have earned 724 million euros (about Rs 6,850 crore) from exporting fuel made from Russian crude oil to the US in one year, an European think tank said in a report. "From January 2024 to the end of January 2025, the US imported EUR 2.8 billion of refined oil from six refineries in India and Turkey that process Russian crude.
Ukrainian forces conducted large-scale drone strikes on several air bases deep inside Russia, destroying multiple combat planes, Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods coming from India as penalty for New Delhi's continued buying of Russian oil.
Trump has played throughout his career as a deal-maker who could deliver where others could not, and Ukraine represents the ultimate test of that image, notes Manish Dabhade.
By threatening to punish India with high tariff, Trump is actually planting a tantalising thought in the Indian mind that the Modi government should suitably 'incentivise' him, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
