In the financial year 2026, the total import bill of gold, fertilizer, crude oil and edible oil was more than $ 240 billion.Image Credit source: Google Gemini
In the financial year 2026, India's imports worth more than Rs 240 billion i.e. about Rs 23 lakh crore came from only four commodity groups, whose use Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to the citizens to use more wisely. This appeal is part of a larger effort to reduce pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves and increase economic strength. According to the report, in the financial year 2025-26, India imported crude oil, gold, vegetable oil and fertilizers worth $ 240.7 billion, which is 31.1 percent of the country's total import bill of $ 775 billion. The largest share was of crude petroleum, whose import was worth 134.7 billion dollars. Gold imports increased to a record $72 billion, while vegetable oil imports increased to $19.5 billion and fertilizer imports increased to $14.5 billion.
PM Modi had made this appeal
All these categories were directly mentioned in the Prime Minister's appeal on May 10. He appealed to citizens to reduce dependence on petrol and diesel by adopting electric vehicles, using public transport, car-pooling and shifting freight to railways. Farmers were urged to adopt solar options instead of diesel-powered pumps and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers by 50 percent. Households were also asked to reduce the use of cooking oil.
An appeal was made to postpone the purchase of non-essential gold for one year. Addressing a rally organized by Telangana BJP in Hyderabad, the PM said that during the global crisis, keeping the country at the top, we have to take some resolutions… A big resolution should be to use petrol and diesel wisely. These comments come amid the West Asia crisis, which has significantly increased the cost of imports.
impact of import bill
India's crude oil basket averaged $114.48 per barrel in April and $105.4 per barrel in May, while its average in FY2026 was $70.99 per barrel. Even small changes in behavior can have a significant impact on India's external accounts, because out of every three dollars spent on imports, almost one dollar is spent on these four commodities. If organic chemicals and raw materials used in making fertilizers are also included in this, then the import bill increases even more. Transport of many of these things also passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Concerns related to gold and fertilizer also included
Gold and fertilizers were the fastest growing parts of this basket. Gold import increased from $ 58 billion in FY 2025 to $ 72 billion in FY 2026, which is an increase of about 24 percent. At the same time, the import of fertilizer increased by 77 percent to 14.6 billion dollars. Although the import of crude oil was less than the $143.1 billion recorded in FY 2025, it still remained 17.4 percent of India's total imports. The share of vegetable oils was 2.5 percent and the share of special was 1.9 percent.
The total import bill of these four commodities has increased from $112 billion in FY21 to $240.7 billion in FY26, reflecting both rising global prices and increased domestic demand. Their share in India's import basket, which had fallen to about 30 percent by FY 2016 and FY 2017, has started increasing again in recent years.
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