India’s crude oil import bill surged 47% year-on-year (YoY) to $15.4 billion in September, amid resurging conflict in West Asia, according to provisional government data.

Data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed that crude oil imports rose 7% YoY to 21.7 million metric tonnes (MMT) in September, even as shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) were about 8.5% lower although import bill stayed almost flat.

The increase in import costs widened India’s net oil and gas import bill — calculated as imports of crude oil, petroleum products and gas minus exports of petroleum products — by 39.6% to $13.4 billion during the month.

Petroleum product exports declined 24.2% to 4.7 MMT in September, while revenue accrued from the exports accelerated about 20% to $4.8 billion, according to the data.

In contrast, LNG imports declined 8.5% to 2,957 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) in September, from 3,233 MMSCM in the corresponding month last year. However, the LNG import bill remained almost unchanged at $1.2 billion.

The Rubber Board will launch a digital platform called ‘INR Konnect’ on a pilot scale soon to document all details of untapped rubber plantations.

Executive Director of the Board M. Vasanthagesan said at the annual conference of the United Planters Association of Southern India in Coonoor on Wednesday (September 23) that growers have plantations in which the rubber is not tapped regularly for multiple reasons.

The adopting agencies should know details about such plantations, and the plantation owners need to know the credible agencies that they can approach for tapping. “The platform has the potential to increase production by 20%,” he told The Hindu. The pilot stage of the project is likely to be rolled out in a month.

Further, with increase in rubber imports, the Rubber Board has taken up with the Bureau of Indian Standards the need to come up with standards for compounded rubber. “There is no monitoring mechanism now for rubber imports. We need standards first to monitor the imports,” he said.

The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) has urged the government to maintain status quo on the import duty on natural rubber as a section of the rubber user industry has sought reduction of the import duty on key inputs and raw materials.

Ajoy Thipaiah, the Association president, said in a statement that the rubber plantation sector sustains nearly 13.2 lakh growers and provides employment to around 4.2 lakh workers. India currently has about 9.4 lakh hectares under natural rubber cultivation, with production in FY26 estimated at approximately nine lakh tonnes.

The domestic rubber prices have shown a ‘modest upward trend’ in recent months due to geopolitical developments and production shortages both, globally and domestically. However, Indian rubber prices remained subdued in comparison with international prices over the last two years. The prices of major inputs such as fertilisers, plant protection chemicals, and skilled labour have increased at 8-12% over the past decade.

Santosh Kumar, chairman, Rubber Committee of the Association, added that imports of natural rubber and compound rubber have increased considerably over the years. Of particular concern is the growing share of compound rubber imports, accounting for nearly 40% of total rubber imports. Most of this is imported from ASEAN countries duty free, he said.