Mumbai: Nayara Energy Ltd, the Indian refiner backed by Russia’s Rosneft, told a Delhi court that SAP India’s decision to cut off software support has left its operations vulnerable to cyber threats and defies India’s refusal to recognize unilateral sanctions.
On Thursday, Nayara’s counsel Dayan Krishnan argued that SAP is using the European Union trade curbs to not provide its services to the energy firm despite contractual obligations in India. The company, which operates a refinery, claimed that being kept out of critical security updates and expert services prevents it from following government orders to strengthen infrastructure to withstand digital attacks.
The dispute serves as an instance for global tech vendors caught between Western measures and the local laws of countries. While SAP said it must comply with German and EU law regardless of where services are delivered, Nayara argues that since the contracts are governed by Indian law and paid in Indian currency, the German software giant’s attempt to bypass its commitments has no legal standing.
The external affairs ministry has formally stated that the country does not subscribe to unilateral sanctions, supporting Nayara’s position. With Nayara supplying 8.5% of India’s energy, the court’s decision will decide whether global software firms can be compelled to provide services to sanctioned entities when local national security is at stake.
The next hearing is on 27 April.
Mint’s emailed requests for comment sent on Thursday evening to Nayara Energy remained unanswered at press time. SAP denied to comment on the issue, as the matter is currently before the court.
Nayara Energy filed the petition in September 2025 seeking restoration of key software services, which include SAP ECC support, marketplace access, SSCR keys, and expert services, which the software firm suspended in July 2025. The petitions mentioned that due to SAP’s withdrawal of services, Nayara could not comply with the GST 2.0 changes and “poses a serious risk to India’s sovereignty and public interest”, as their oil refinery contributes to 8.5% of India’s energy.
Nayara Energy was previously known as Essar Oil. According toReuters, Rosneft has a 49.13% stake in Nayara Energy, and Kesani Enterprises Co. Ltd owns a similar stake. Rosneft is an oil and gas company based in Russia, which operates in all major Russian oil and gas provinces. Nayara has an oil refinery in Gujarat and operates more than 6,800 petrol pumps across the country.
In a hearing in March, SAP argued that they are a company based in Germany and they have to comply with the EU sanctions as they have applications around the world. If there was no link to their Russian parent, and the services were only in India, then the services would have been running without any disruption.
