With the US announcing to withdraw waivers granted to eight economies including India to buy crude oil from Iran beginning early May, over-dependence on oil imports in the third largest consumer of oil has again come to limelight.
During the first year in office of prime minister Narendra Modi in 2014-15, India used to import a majority (18.4%) of its total crude oil requirement from Saudi Arab with Iran at a distance 7th position contributing only 6% of India’s crude basket. However, towards end of Modi’s tenure, as per the latest available data for the first 10 months of the financial year 2018-19 (April-January), Iran is now the third largest contributor to India’s energy security, contributing 11.3% of the country’s crude oil demand.
