India will continue to buy Russian oil as it proves economical, its finance minister said on Friday, despite the Trump administration's decision to impose heavy import tariffs on Indian goods due, in part, to its energy purchases from Moscow.

As Europe and the US have shunned Russian oil over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India has taken advantage of discounts on Russian output to become the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude.

New Delhi has said its purchases of Russian oil have kept the markets in balance.

US President Donald Trump, who is seeking to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict, has said India's oil imports are helping fund Moscow's war effort and imposed a 50% tariff on imports from India last month.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking on local news cha

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