By buying russian oil and indirectly supporting Russia.
We have seen no Western governments strongly criticize India for these oil purchases. The only criticisms have been from media outlets and mild criticisms when government officials are questioned by the media. But even those mild criticisms are usually caveated with something to the effect that this is not gonna affect relations with India.
The reason is simple. Western countries are privately thrilled with Indias arrangement. If India wasn’t buying Russian oil they would be buying it from the global market instead which would further push up oil prices and therefore inflation.
Even better, India is doing it at a massive discount ($35/barrel, I believe) which at current prices effectively translates to Russia selling oil to India at a loss.
Another interesting thing to note is that the $35/barrel discount India is getting, is functionally similar to the price cap idea that the European countries are trying to enact. In fact, I suspect it’s an even lower price than the cap they will settle on, and it remains to be seen if Europe can enact this price cap at all, something India has been doing successfully for the entirety of the war.
This says $20 discount https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60783874
Don’t forget that it’s also far more expensive for Russia to send oil to India.
They don’t have oil pipelines to India. Their oil is being shipped to India, but their ports are all located on their Northern coast which means every round trip takes days and weeks longer than they used to when supplying the likes of Europe, which means they need more tankers to supply the same amount of oil to India than they would Europe.
I do not say that it makes India somehow right. But the scale of wrongs by Europe is so big that any benefits India is trying to get are minuscule .
Are India behaving any differently to European countries in trying to secure energy?
The EU is taking enormous harm upon itself by what it's doing in regards to the Ukraine / Russia war. It could stay out of the Ukraine conflict, it could have the pipelines all operating normally, it could be enjoying dramatically lower energy bills.
India is doing the exact opposite. They're intentionally avoiding harming themselves and are opportunistically buying cheap energy.
Yes, they're behaving very differently. Which also doesn't mean it's not in India's self-interest to purchase cheap energy, given their economic context. One would be a fool to not grasp why they're doing it and that for their own well-being it may very well make sense; they're not part of Europe and they don't view themselves as being involved.
More importantly, India is buying oil at a heavily discounted price, which at current prices means Russia is likely selling at a loss. This is working so well that Europe is trying to emulate something similar with their price cap idea, which is functionally similar to what India is doing, except India’s discount probably means an even lower price for Russia and India has been doing this successfully for 200+ days while it’s not clear Europe’s price cap idea will ever get off the ground.
I completely understand them buying energy from wherever it’s cheapest. Industrialization of India decreases real poverty, and an increase in prices would hit them hard. Asking them to stop buying fuel is like asking a homeless person for food. And doesn’t the EU continue to purchase Russian gas?