Indian oil companies’ dividends totalling up to $400 million from Russian projects stuck

This hindered dividend payments to Indian oil and gas companies, and the dues have ballooned to nearly $400 million over the past year or so, said the official, who did not wish to be identified.

India and Russia have been discussing the issue on a regular basis and efforts are on from both sides to resolve it, said the official, adding that while the dividend dues are not small in amount, they are insignificant in comparison to the overall oil trade between Russia and India and have no bearing on it.

From being a marginal supplier of crude to India before the war in Ukraine, Russia has emerged as New Delhi’s biggest source of oil over the past year, overtaking heavyweights like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Indian refiners started snapping up Russian crude, which was being offered at a discount by Moscow as the West began to shun Russian barrels.

The rapid expansion in oil trade between the two countries resulted in Moscow storming into the club of India’s top 5 trade partners for the 2022-23 fiscal. Prior to that, Russia was not even among India’s top 20 trade partners.