India has no plans to pay in rupees for the Russian oil its public sector companies buy, Parliament was informed on Monday.

India buys less than 1 per cent of its oil from Russia. But Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have given way to the talk of a rupee trade for the oil and gas purchases.

“At present, oil public sector undertakings neither have any contract nor is any such proposal under consideration from Russia or any other country for the purchase of crude oil in Indian rupees,” minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Rameswar Teli said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. He did not elaborate.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is likely to visit India this week, with officials from both the sides expected to discuss the sale of Russian oil and work out a payment method.

IOC has bought two shiploads of distressed Russian oil at deep discounts. IOC bought 3 million barrels in each trade through European trader Vitol.

HPCL also bought two million barrels of Russian crude Urals through a trader. Sources said the trade in oil with Russia is being settled in dollars.

Fuel price hike

Petrol and diesel prices were raised again on Monday — the sixth time in the last seven days, taking the total increase in the last one week to Rs 4-4.10 per litre.

The price of petrol in Calcutta is now Rs 108.85 a litre and diesel, Rs 93.92 a litre.

The PSU oil refiners did not raise prices once from November 4 to March 21, during which the price of crude oil soared about $30 per barrel.

“The OMCs need to continue to take consistent price hikes in the coming weeks to be able to return to the black as crude prices are likely to remain volatile owing to geopolitical concerns,” Kotak Institutional Securities said.