US says India has halved oil purchases from Russia, Indian sources deny

India has halved its oil purchases from Russia, according to a White House official, but Indian sources said there was no immediate reduction, at a time when President Donald Trump's administration is urging India and other countries to buy less Russian oil.

Russian oil is one of the hot spots of disagreement in US-India trade talks - half of the 50% tariffs Trump has imposed on Indian goods are retaliation for these oil purchases. His administration says Russia is using the money it earns from oil sales to finance the war in Ukraine.

The US official told Reuters on Thursday that talks with an Indian delegation in Washington this week had been productive and that Indian refiners were already cutting their purchases of Russian oil by 50%.

But industry sources in India said on Friday that the government has not given any instructions to refiners to reduce imports from Russia.

According to these sources, who did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media, refiners have already ordered oil for November, and even for shipments that will arrive in December. So any reduction in imports will probably show up in the December or January figures.

The Indian oil ministry and refiners that buy Russian oil did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

And President Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him on Wednesday that India would stop buying Russian oil. India's Foreign Ministry did not comment on Trump's statement, other than saying it was not aware of any phone conversation between the two leaders that day.