India, July 1 -- When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following military strikes on Iran earlier this year, the implications for India were immediate and profound. Nearly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes through this narrow maritime corridor, making it the single most important chokepoint in the global energy trade.

For India, which imports close to 90% of its crude oil and around 60% of its LPG, a prolonged disruption threatened not merely higher fuel prices but a wider economic shock that could have rippled through household budgets, industrial production and the country's external finances.

As the Indian crude basket climbed from the low $70s to over $120 a barrel within weeks and LPG import costs surged by almost...