India once defied pressure to buy Russian oil. So why did it need a US waiver now?
By calling the 30 days granted to India to buy Russian oil stranded at sea a waiver, the US treasury secretary implied it was an exemption from a restriction. New Delhi is still buying Russian oil, but who's setting the terms?
When US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “a temporary 30-day waiver” allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian crude cargoes “already stranded at sea”, it was framed as a short-term step to keep global oil markets stable amid disruptions in the Gulf in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran.
But in New Delhi’s policy circles, and in the Opposition, the optics were impossible to ignore.
But in New Delhi’s policy circles, and in the Opposition, the optics were impossible to ignore.