Customs duty from Russia to India: Import Duty Guide

Key Takeaways

• There’s no bilateral India-Russia free trade agreement. India-EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan) talks are underway but unconcluded, following Terms of Reference signed in August 2025 and a roughly 18-month negotiation roadmap.
• This lane is overwhelmingly driven by crude oil - Russia’s share of India’s crude oil imports swung to a record 48-53.5% in mid-2026, though monthly volumes have fluctuated significantly amid sanctions pressure.
• India’s crude oil imports from Russia were worth roughly $47.8 billion in India’s 2025-26 fiscal year.
• This sits in real tension with India’s separate February 2026 trade deal with the US, which reportedly included a commitment to reduce Russian oil purchases - yet mid-2026 data shows Russia’s share still near record highs, suggesting that commitment hasn’t clearly materialized.
• Russia is also a significant supplier of fertilizers to India, supplying roughly 27% of India’s fertilizer imports as of a recent fiscal year, up sharply from around 7.7% several years earlier.

Russia-India Trade at a Glance

This is a genuinely volatile, fast-moving lane worth treating carefully. India’s crude oil imports from Russia were worth roughly $47.8 billion in India’s 2025-26 fiscal year, and Russia’s share of India’s total crude oil imports swung to a record 48-53.5% in mid-2026 - though monthly barrel volumes fluctuated hard across the year (roughly 1.0 to 2.6 million barrels per day) amid sanctions pressure, including US and EU measures targeting Rosneft and Lukoil from late 2025, and associated payment and shipping frictions (OilPrice.com; ThePrint). Fertilizers are the clear second category - Russia supplied roughly 27% of India’s fertilizer imports as of a recent fiscal year, up sharply from around 7.7% several years earlier.

Worth flagging directly: this scale of Russian oil dependence sits in real tension with India’s separate February 2026 trade deal with the US, which reportedly included an Indian commitment to reduce Russian oil purchases (part of the broader story behind the US tariff de-escalation covered on this site’s India to USA lane page). Mid-2026 data showing Russia’s share of India’s oil imports still near record highs suggests that commitment hasn’t clearly materialized in practice - worth watching for further developments.

Is There a Trade Deal Between Russia and India?

No bilateral free trade agreement exists. India is instead negotiating with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a bloc - which includes Russia alongside Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan - toward a future FTA. Terms of Reference for these talks were signed in Moscow on 21 August 2025, launching a roughly 18-month negotiation roadmap, with a further progress review held in Moscow in November 2025 (Press Information Bureau of India). As of August 2026, these talks remain in progress, not concluded - India-EAEU trade turnover reached $69 billion in 2024, up 7% year on year, giving both sides real incentive to formalize the relationship, but nothing preferential is in effect yet.

How Much Will You Pay Importing from Russia to India?

With no trade agreement in place, Russia-origin goods pay India’s standard duty stack: Basic Customs Duty (varying significantly by product, and for crude oil specifically governed by its own separate, product-specific rate structure rather than general consumer-goods rules), a Social Welfare Surcharge equal to 10% of the BCD amount, and Integrated GST at 5-28% depending on category, all calculated on the CIF customs value. India has no general duty-free threshold for commercial imports of any value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Russia-India free trade agreement?

No - what exists is a broader, unconcluded set of negotiations between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (which includes Russia), still in progress as of mid-2026 following an August 2025 start to formal talks.

Why has Russia’s share of India’s oil imports grown so dramatically?

Since 2022, India has significantly increased purchases of discounted Russian crude oil, pushing Russia’s share of India’s oil imports to record levels above 50% in 2026 - a major shift from the pre-2022 pattern, driven by pricing rather than any trade agreement.

Does this conflict with India’s other trade commitments?

There’s a real tension worth noting: India’s February 2026 deal with the US reportedly included a commitment to reduce Russian oil purchases, yet Russia’s share of India’s oil imports remained near record highs through mid-2026 - suggesting that specific commitment hasn’t clearly played out in practice.

What else does Russia export to India besides oil?

Fertilizers are the clear second-largest category, with Russia supplying roughly 27% of India’s fertilizer imports as of a recent fiscal year - a sharp increase from under 8% several years earlier.