For the sixth month in a row, Russia has topped the list of oil suppliers to India as it's state-run and privately controlled refineries continued to snap up Russian grades available at a highly discounted price in the market.
In comparison to Iraq, once the No.1 seller of oil to India, crude purchases from Russia doubled in the last month.
Data from cargo tracker firm Vortexa revealed that India's imports of Russian oil jumped to a record high, standing at 1.64 million barrels per day (bpd) in March.
In comparison, India purchased 0.82 million bpd of crude from Iraq in March.
Month-on-month, the imports of Russian oil saw a marginal rise. In February, India purchased 1.62 million barrels per day from Russia. In March, it increased to 1.64 million bpd.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia sold 986,288 bpd to India to emerge as New Delhi's second-biggest oil importer.
India emerged as Moscow's top buyer after Western nations slapped sanctions on Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine.
New Delhi's top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, have continued to back India's oil purchases from Russia, saying the South Asian nation was doing it in the national interest.
India is the third largest consumer and importer of oil in the world after its Asian neighbor China and the United States.