India has seen rapid growth in imports over the past few decades. As one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, India offers great opportunities for companies that import products into the country across various sectors.

In this blog post, we will discuss the top 10 import companies in India. We will look at what they import, their import volume, growth trends and other key details. This list provides good insight into the companies dominating India’s substantial import market.

Let’s dive in!

1. Indian Oil Corporation Limited

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is India’s largest commercial enterprise. It imports crude oil, petroleum products, and petrochemical feedstock for the country.

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Imports: Crude oil, petroleum products, petrochemical feedstock
• Import Volume: Largest crude oil importer in India
• Revenue from imports: Majority of $70+ billion annual revenue

IOCL imports the most crude oil into India to cater to the country’s high fuel demands. It has maintained consistent growth in imports over the years despite fluctuations in global oil prices.

2. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is a leading PSU refining and marketing company. It imports crude oil, petroproducts, and feedstock for its refining and marketing operations.

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Imports: Crude oil, petroleum products, refining feedstock
• Import Volume: Among top crude oil importers
• Revenue from imports: Significant portion of $45 billion+ revenue

BPCL has crude oil imports of over 250 million metric tons annually. It imports products like motor spirit, high-speed diesel, LPG, benzene, and petcoke amongst others.

3. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is another leading public sector oil marketing company. It also imports substantial quantities of crude and petroleum products.

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Imports: Crude oil, petroleum products, petrochemicals
• Import Volume: Major crude oil and petroproducts importer
• Revenue from imports: Large portion of $30+ billion revenue

Some key imports of HPCL include crude oil, LPG, motor spirit, HSD, lube oil base stocks, benzene, and propylene amongst others. It has coastal installations facilitating crude receipt and product exports.

4. Adani Wilmar Limited

Adani Wilmar Limited is one of the fastest-growing FMCG companies in India. It imports edible oils for production and distribution across India.

• Headquarters: Ahmedabad
• Imports: Edible oils such as palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil
• Import Volume: Among top edible oil importers in India
• Revenue from Imports: Significant portion of $4 billion revenue

The company imports crude and refined palm oil, RBD palmolein, soybean oil, and sunflower oil from Malaysia, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine amongst other countries.

5. Reliance Industries Limited

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company across energy, petrochemicals, retail, digital services and other sectors. It imports substantial quantities of crude oil and petroleum products.

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Imports: Crude oil, petroleum products, petrochemical feedstock
• Import volume: Leading private sector importer
• Revenue from imports: Major contribution to $75 billion annual revenue

Some key imports by RIL include crude oil imports for its Jamnagar refinery complex, purified terephthalic acid, paraxylene, polyethylene and polypropylene feedstock amongst others.

6. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) operates the largest commercial port business in India. It handles vast quantities of imports across bulk, container and liquid cargo segments.

• Headquarters: Ahmedabad
• Key imports handled: Crude oil, coal, fertilizers, agri products, containers
• Import volume: Largest port operator in India by volume
• Revenue from imports: Significant portion of $3 billion+ revenue

APSEZ facilitates imports of key products like crude oil, steam coal, fertilizers, agricultural goods in bulk segment and varied container cargo imports.

7.Torrent Power Limited

Torrent Power Limited is one of the leading private power generation and distribution companies in India. It imports substantial quantities of coal, petcoke and other fuels for power generation.

• Headquarters: Ahmedabad
• Key imports: Coal, petcoke, other power generation fuels
• Import volume: Among major private coal importers
• Revenue from imports: Vital for $3 billion+ annual revenue

Some of they key imports by Torrent Power include coal and petcoke sourced from Indonesia, South Africa and other countries for its thermal power plants across states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

8. Aditya Birla Group

The Aditya Birla Group is a leading Indian conglomerate with businesses across viscose staple fibre, metals, cements, chemicals and other sectors. Its companies import raw materials like pulp, coal and metals etc.

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Key imports: Wood pulp, coal, metals, chemicals
• Import volume: Leading imports across group entities
• Revenue from imports: Significant contribution across $48.3 billion revenues

Key imports by the group include wood pulp, coal, copper concentrate, phosphoric acid, Rock phosphate etc. Major imports are done by Grasim Industries, Hindalco Industries and UltraTech Cement subsidiaries.

9. Vedanta Limited

Vedanta Limited is India’s leading natural resources company across oil and gas, zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, steel, copper and aluminum segments. It imports crude, metals etc.

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Key imports: Crude oil, metals, specialty chemicals
• Import volume: Leading private company imports
• Revenue from imports: Major part of $12+ billion revenue

Vedanta imports crude oil, pig iron, metallurgical coke, phosphoric acid,etc. for its copper smelting, iron and steel making, oil refining and aluminum operations.

10. Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) manufactures fertilizers and chemicals. It imports rock phosphate, ammonia, phosphoric acid, MOP, ammonium sulphate and other raw materials.

• Headquarters: Kochi
• Imports: Phosphate rock, ammonia, acids, fertilizer raw materials
• Import Volume: Key imports for manufacturing operations
• Revenue from Imports: Important for $700+ million revenue

FACT imports key materials like rock phosphate and ammonia raw materials from countries like Jordan, Lithuania, Russia and China amongst others for production of fertilizers.

Conclusion

We have discussed the top 10 import companies in India spanning critical sectors like oil and gas, power, metals and mining, ports and fertilizers amongst others. These companies dominate India’s substantial and rapidly growing imports across crude oil, coal, edible oils, metals, chemicals, wood pulp and various other products. Understanding such leading importers provides perspective on India’s evolving import landscape overall.

I hope you enjoyed this blog on the top import companies in India! Let me know your feedback or any other import companies that could be included in this list for a future article.