Oil imports down 20.2% in the 7 months of the current fiscal

Crude oil imports fell 20.2 per cent during the seven months of the current fiscal and estimates are that the imports in the current fiscal would be down over 12 per cent because of subdued demand.

Crude imports decreased 21.6 per cent in October and 20.2 per cent during April-October 2020 compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, according to data released by the petroleum ministry.

Analysts estimate imports to fall 12.7 per cent during 2020-21 to 3.97 million barrels per day given the subdued demand from the Indian refiners.

India imported 227 million tonnes for $101.4 billion in 2019-20. In volumes, imports stood at 4.5 million barrels per day during 2019-20 and are currently at around 3.6 million barrels per day during during the seven months of 2020-21.