NEW DELHI, August 22. /TASS/. India outranked China in terms of Russian oil purchases in July and became the top importers of raw hydrocarbons from Russia, The Times of India newspaper reports, citing trade and industrial sources.

According to their data, India scaled up oil imports from Russia by 12% year on year last month. It totaled 44% of total such procurements abroad by India and reached the record level of 2.07 mln barrels per day.

Iraq is the second largest oil supplier to India. India’s oil purchases in Middle East countries edged up by 4% during that period and increased region’s share in total Indian imports to 40%.

The Main Customs Administration of China reported earlier that China’s imports of oil from Russia fell in July by 11.5% month on month to 7.45 mln metric tons. Russia nevertheless continues to top the list of more than thirty oil exporters to China.