India's Crude Oil Import Bill Jumps 48% to $74.8 Billion as Hormuz Crisis Keeps Prices Above $90

India spent $74.8 billion on crude oil imports between April and August 2026, a jump of 48.4 per cent over the $50.4 billion it paid in the same five months last year, according to data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), the oil ministry's statistics arm. The striking part of the numbers, reported by The Tribune and ThePrint, is that India bought almost no additional oil: import volumes actually slipped 0.4 per cent, from 101.1 million metric tonnes (MMT) to 100.7 MMT. The extra $24.4 billion flowed out of the country purely because every barrel now costs far more.

A price shock, not a demand shock

The PPAC data traces the surge directly to global prices. The Indian basket of crude averaged $90.19 a barrel in August, up from $82.04 in July and a 30.5 per cent increase over the $69.11 recorded in August 2025, according to ThePrint. The Tribune reported that Brent crude averaged $90.84 in August against $68.21 a year earlier, a rise of 33.2 per cent, and both publications noted that Brent has since climbed above $100 a barrel in September.

For August alone, India's crude import bill came to $11.7 billion, about 18 per cent higher than the same month last year, even though the month's import volume of 19 MMT was 3 per cent lower, The Tribune reported.

The Hormuz premium

Behind the price surge sits the crisis that has dominated energy markets since late February: the closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran on February 28, prompting Tehran to shut the world's most important oil chokepoint in early March. The disruption has hit India harder than most large importers, because the strait has historically carried a large share of its crude, LNG and LPG purchases from West Asian suppliers.

Writing for OilPrice.com, analyst Tsvetana Paraskova noted that freight rates on the route from Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura terminal to India have risen more than 400 per cent since February 28, as shipping through the Hormuz corridor carries war-risk premiums that get passed straight into the landed cost of every cargo. The Tribune attributed the elevated price environment to West Asia tensions and the drawdown of inventories built up before the conflict.

The rupee makes it worse

The dollar bill tells only part of the story. In rupee terms, The Tribune reported, the April–August import bill works out to roughly ₹7 lakh crore, a 62 per cent increase over the same period last year, because the rupee has depreciated about 8.7 per cent against the dollar in the year to August 31. A weaker currency amplifies every dollar of imported inflation, feeding through to fuel prices, airfares and logistics costs across the economy.

The strain is visible in the external accounts. India's current account deficit for the first quarter of FY27 widened to $4.2 billion, or 0.5 per cent of GDP, from $3.4 billion a year earlier, according to The Tribune. That deterioration has come despite an economy that grew 7.8 per cent in the same quarter, underlining how much of the damage is imported rather than home-grown.

Consumers are already adjusting

The PPAC figures show demand responding to higher prices, though unevenly. Consumption of petroleum products fell 3.9 per cent to 96.2 MMT in April–August, ThePrint reported. The steepest fall came in LPG, down 16.8 per cent to 11.2 MMT, a sharp reversal for a fuel whose imports have depended heavily on the Hormuz route. Transport fuels, by contrast, kept growing: diesel consumption rose 4.8 per cent, petrol 7 per cent, and jet fuel 0.5 per cent, suggesting that mobility demand in a fast-growing economy has so far absorbed higher pump prices.

Domestic supply offers little cushion. India's own crude production slipped to 11.4 MMT in April–August from 11.9 MMT a year earlier, leaving the country dependent on imports for about 88 per cent of the crude it processes, per PPAC data cited by ThePrint. Natural gas is the one bright spot: domestic gas production rose 20 per cent to 14,075 million standard cubic metres, and LNG imports rose 31 per cent, as buyers scrambled for alternatives to disrupted pipeline-adjacent supplies.

No early relief in sight

Forecasters see the pressure persisting. The Tribune cited CRISIL Intelligence projections that Brent will average $88–93 a barrel in FY27, which would be 25 to 32 per cent higher than the previous year. If those forecasts hold, the full-year import bill will comfortably exceed last year's, even if volumes stay flat, and the government's room to cushion consumers through excise cuts will keep shrinking.

For a country that imports nearly nine of every ten barrels it consumes, the five-month numbers are a reminder of an old vulnerability that reform has not yet fixed. India has diversified suppliers, built strategic reserves and pushed gas and renewables, but when the world's most important oil artery closes, the bill still lands in New Delhi — this time, $24.4 billion heavier.

Sources: The Tribune, ThePrint, and OilPrice.com, based on data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.