Russia supplied 10.8% of India’s merchandise imports in April-September 2026, ranking second behind China as purchases from Russia climbed nearly 52%, Indian government quick estimates showed.
India imported $47.286 billion of Russian merchandise in the six-month period, compared with $31.116 billion in April-September 2025. The 51.97% increase also placed Russia among the five import sources with the largest year-over-year value gains in the government’s September trade release. The figures cover merchandise, not services.
Hindustan Times reported that crude oil and petroleum products accounted for $40.25 billion of the imports, while other goods made up $7.04 billion, or nearly 15%. Those reported components total $47.29 billion, about $4 million above the official aggregate. The government’s country-level table confirms the overall value but does not provide the product breakdown.
Hindustan Times reported that imports of Russian coal, coke and briquettes reached $2.56 billion, up about 36% from $1.89 billion a year earlier. It put fertilizer imports at $2.12 billion, more than 60% above the prior-year $1.32 billion. The official country-level table does not list these commodity-level amounts.
The newspaper also reported that vegetable oil imports rose more than 42% to nearly $1 billion in April-September. Non-ferrous metal imports increased more than 162% to $112.2 million, while pulses rose more than 73% to $95.35 million, Hindustan Times reported.
Unnamed experts cited by Hindustan Times attributed the import growth to changes in both prices and volumes. They said disruptions in West Asia were encouraging India to reduce supply-chain risks for inputs and intermediate goods.
April through September was the first half of India’s 2026-27 fiscal year, which began in April. The detailed category figures remain attributed to Hindustan Times; the government table provides the country-level total.
