The US navy carried out a large-scale navy operation in Venezuela, detaining President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse and bringing them to the US on numerous fees together with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Consultant picture. |Photograph credit score: AP
The battle between the US and Venezuela could have a negligible influence on India’s commerce with the South American nation, assume tank World Commerce Analysis Initiative (GTRI) stated on Sunday (January 4, 2026).
On January 4, the US navy carried out a large-scale navy operation in Venezuela, detaining President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse, and taking them to the US on numerous fees together with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
“India faces negligible influence as commerce with Venezuela has collapsed below sanctions, crude oil imports have fallen by 81.3% in FY25, and general bilateral commerce stays at its restrict,” GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava stated.
He stated that for India, the unrest in Venezuela is unlikely to have a big financial or power influence.
India was a significant purchaser of Venezuelan oil within the 2000s and 2010s, however U.S. sanctions have sharply weakened bilateral engagement since 2019, forcing India to chop oil imports and reduce industrial actions to keep away from secondary sanctions, he added.
Consequently, India-Venezuela commerce is now smaller and declining, Srivastava stated.
India’s complete imports from Venezuela in FY2025 had been solely $364.5 million, of which crude oil accounted for $255.3 million, down 81.3% from the $1.4 billion in crude oil imports in FY24.
India’s exports to Venezuela had been modest at $95.3 million, led by prescribed drugs value $41.4 million.
“Present developments in Venezuela should not anticipated to have a big influence on India’s financial system or power safety, given its low commerce volumes, present sanctions constraints, and geographical distance,” he stated.
Venezuela holds about 18% of the world’s oil reserves, greater than Saudi Arabia (about 16%), Russia (about 5-6%) and america (about 4%).
