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(Bloomberg) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to citizens to cut fuel use and avoid unnecessary travel as rising oil prices from the Iran war threaten to widen the nation’s import bill and strain foreign-exchange reserves.
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“It is time for us to use petrol, diesel and gas with great care,” Modi said on Sunday while inaugurating projects in Hyderabad in southern India. “We must make efforts to use only as much as is needed to save foreign currency and reduce the adverse effects of war crises.”
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The South Asian nation, the world’s third-largest oil importer, has been among the hardest hit by the prolonged Middle East crisis with the rupee hitting a record low in recent weeks. A 10% rise in crude prices cuts economic growth by 15 basis points and lifts inflation by 30 basis points, according to the central bank.
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To conserve energy, Modi said measures from the Covid pandemic such as working from home and online meetings should be used.
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The government is now drawing on its Covid playbook to cushion businesses and consumers hit by gas shortages and soaring oil bills, Bloomberg News reported last month. The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved a credit guarantee plan with capital allocation of 181 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) to help businesses and airlines cushion the impact of the war in Iran.
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Modi also urged citizens to help conserve foreign exchange reserves by avoiding unnecessary overseas travel, vacations and weddings, opting for domestic tourism instead, and refraining from non-essential gold purchases for a year.
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The crisis has the potential to knock India off its growth trajectory. Although the government is sticking to its forecasts of 6.8%-7.2% for the fiscal year through March 2027, several economists have already started to downgrade their projections. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts 5.9% for 2026, while Oxford Economics Ltd. expects 6.2%.
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https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/modi-urges-indians-to-conserve-fuel-curb-costly-oil-imports
