Is the no-load current of a motor always less than the load current?

From the two intuitive states of no-load and load, it can basically be considered that under the load state of the motor, due to the actual dragging of the load, there will be a relatively large current, that is, the load current of the motor will be greater than the no-load current; but this situation does not apply to all motors, that is, for some motors, the no-load current is greater than the load current. 
The electrical functions of the stator part of an asynchronous motor are twofold: one is to input electrical energy, and the other is to establish the motor's rotating magnetic field. 
Under no-load conditions of the motor, the current component is mainly excitation current, and the active current corresponding to no-load loss is relatively small. That is, the input electrical energy is small when the motor is no-load, and the stator current is mainly used to establish the magnetic field. 
Under load conditions, more electrical energy needs to be input to drive the load. Generally, the current component is mainly the load current. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the load current is greater than the no-load current, and the no-load current is only one quarter to one half of the load current. 
The electromechanical energy conversion inside an electric motor is a very complex process. Among them, the establishment of the magnetic field, which is the sole medium for electromechanical conversion, involves various factors. This leads to the phenomenon that the no-load current of some specially designed or certain types of motors is even greater than the load current. 
For three-phase asynchronous motors, the three-phase windings are spatially symmetrically distributed, and the input three-phase currents are symmetrical. The established magnetic field is always a circular magnetic field. Generally, the proportion of excitation current to load current does not change much and follows certain regularity. However, for some specially designed motors, such as single-winding variable-pole multi-speed motors in certain speed or pole number schemes, the leakage reactance or leakage flux is very large. The leakage reactance voltage drop caused by the load current is significant, resulting in a much lower magnetic circuit saturation level under load compared to no-load conditions. The load excitation current is much smaller than the no-load excitation current, leading to a situation where the no-load current is greater than the load current. 
The magnetic field of a single-phase motor is an elliptical field, and the degree of ellipticity varies significantly between no-load and load conditions. Generally, a single-phase asynchronous motor has two sets of windings on its stator: the main winding and the auxiliary winding. These windings are often spatially offset by 90°, and an appropriate capacitor is connected in series with the auxiliary winding before it is paralleled with the main winding and connected to the power grid. Due to the phase-splitting effect of components like capacitors, the currents in the main and auxiliary windings are phase-shifted by a certain angle in time. The pulsating magnetic potentials generated by the main and auxiliary windings can be combined to form a rotating magnetic potential, which induces currents in the rotor and establishes an induced magnetic field. The interaction between these two fields generates the driving torque of the motor. Theoretical analysis shows that the elliptical rotating magnetic potential of a single-phase motor can be decomposed into two circular rotating magnetic potentials: the positive sequence and the negative sequence. The positive sequence rotating magnetic potential drives the motor's rotation, while the negative sequence magnetic potential exerts a reverse braking effect on the motor, significantly affecting the magnitude of the driving torque. 
When the spatial distribution of the main and auxiliary windings and the time phase difference of the current flowing through them are both 90 degrees of electrical angle, the ellipticity of the synthesized magnetic field is the smallest. If the amplitudes of the main and auxiliary winding magnetic potentials are the same, the case where the ellipticity of the synthesized magnetic field is the smallest will transform into a circular rotating magnetic field, that is, the motor only has a forward rotating magnetic potential, the negative sequence component is zero, and the performance index is also the best. Due to the fact that the capacitors and other phase-splitting components achieve different levels of current phase shift at different speeds, there is no absolute proportional relationship between the no-load current and the load current of the single-phase motor. In some cases, the load current is greater than the no-load current, while in others, the no-load current may be greater than the load current.