Could Indian Companies Face Sanctions from the European Union?
India is facing a looming threat of sanctions from the European Union due to allegations that Indian companies are aiding Russia. The EU has drawn up sanctions against 21 new entities, including three Chinese and one Indian company. This proposal could potentially change the current situation as no Indian or Chinese firms have been hit by sanctions over the war in Ukraine before. If every member agrees, these proposed sanctions will be imposed before February 24th, which marks the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The details regarding what these companies have done and how they will be affected by the proposed sanctions are not clear yet; however, it is appropriate to include certain other entities in third countries that directly support Russia’s military and industrial complex on this list. These entities may be selling electrical goods or spare parts with dual use (commercial and military value), which the EU aims to deter trade for.
If imposed, this could lead to significant consequences for these firms as there would be no trade exchanges or market access with Europe. India has not officially reacted to this news yet but is studying reports while seeking clarity on this matter.
Europe’s policy against Russia remains confusing since they still buy a lot of stuff from them — $85 billion worth of Russian exports was imported into Europe in 2023 alone compared to India’s total imports worth just $50 billion from Russia. Despite such large imports from Russia, Brussels claims that their trade with Moscow is down by 68% compared to last year; hence their efforts towards reducing it further cannot go unnoticed.
However, Euro math seems flawed when we consider how much refined oil products Europe now buys from India- a whopping 115% rise in imports between 2022–23! Even though India does not import oil directly from Russia anymore, almost half its crude oil comes via pipelines through Moscow; thus chances are high that some Russian crude ends up being exported out after refining here.
This double standard raises doubts about whether these proposed sanctions aim at hiding Europe’s own failures since there are already some19k existing ones targeting virtually every industry within Russia without any significant results so far except for growing GDP rates last year (up by 3.6%). Moreover, despite all those restrictions placed upon them globally–the war still continues unabatedly while aid remains stuck in Congress halls back home!
Henceforth what you’re seeing currently appears more like desperation than anything else — an attempt made solely because it happens coincidentally around two years after war broke out between Ukraine-Russia border regions rather than based on actual facts/evidence-based decision-making processes.
It remains unclear if imposing such harsh measures would impact China and India adversely given their key trading relationships with both nations amounting roughly $135bn & almost $1tn respectively? We’ll find out soon enough!
