Did India’ crude oil imports actually fall in the month of Feb-22?

According to data put out by the Commerce Ministry, India’s oil imports may have gone up in value terms but has gone down in volume terms due to the impact of higher prices. India's crude oil import volumes for Feb-22 dropped to the lowest level since Oct-21 as soaring global prices hit demand. Feb-21 crude import volumes were lower by 8.6% sequentially and was lower by 5.7% compared to the pre-COVID levels.

This fall in crude import volumes came in the midst of a surge in oil prices due to worsening geopolitical situation in Ukraine. India is the third largest importer of crude oil but Indian oil market is also extremely touchy about higher prices and demand does tend to contract sharply in such situations.