Trinamul Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday said that buying "cheap" oil from Russia has led to windfall profits for Indian oil companies but the people are still paying "sky-high" fuel prices.

In a post on X, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the Modi government must come clean and tell the people of India why the benefits from India "laundering" Russian oil have not reached the people.

"The extremely shameful truth behind fuel prices in India. In Feb 2022, sanctions were imposed on Russia by the West after its invasion of Ukraine. As a result, Russia was forced to sell crude oil at a rate of below $60/barrel as mandated by the sanctions (sic)," Gokhale said.

"India emerged as the world's largest buyer of Russian oil. For the last 2.5 years, India has been buying Russian oil at a discount of 25 per cent - 50 per cent below market prices. But who has that benefited?" he questioned.

He said India is now among the largest exporters of refined petroleum to Europe.

"Basically, we're doing laundering of Russian oil. As Europe cannot buy directly from Russia, we import Russian oil, refine it into petrol & diesel, and sell it to Europe." "This has led to windfall profits for Indian private petroleum companies - which are owned by corporates who are very close to Modi. However, despite 25 per cent - 50 per cent cheaper imports of oil, petrol and diesel prices in India have remained mostly unchanged," he said.

"Modi Govt claims importing Russian oil is in 'India's self-interest'. But does India's self-interest mean the welfare of our people or does it mean more profits for private petroleum companies?" the TMC MP said.

"It is a matter of shame that the Indian people are being robbed by the Modi Govt & being made to pay sky-high fuel prices without getting any benefit from cheap Russian imports," he said.

He said the Modi government must come clean as to why the "benefits of dirt cheap Russian oil imports have still not led to any reduction in petrol and diesel prices", Gokhale said.

India, the world's third largest oil-consuming and importing nation, in July bought $ 2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released in August.

According to the report, imports from Russia, which were less than one per cent of the total oil imported in the pre-Ukraine war period, now make up for almost 40 per cent of India's total oil purchases.

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