India’s appetite may be waning for crude oil from Russia, the country’s biggest source, with discounts shrinking by 77 per cent from a record high in early 2023, and by 61 per cent from the months after the invasion of Ukraine in February, suggests exclusive data accessed by Business Standard. But even record-low discounts at present are offering value to India’s state-run refiners, which are grappling with the inability to adjust pump prices for nearly two years. They lowered petrol and diesel rates by Rs 2 per litre last month, despite rising crude oil prices.
