India, April 1 -- A missile strike in the Strait of Hormuz may seem distant until it shows up in the price you pay at the petrol pump. For India, this is not a hypothetical scenario but a recurring economic reality. In an increasingly interconnected world, geopolitical disruptions travel quickly through energy markets, landing squarely in household budgets.

The shock of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is a case in point. As global crude prices surged, India's import bill ballooned, driving inflation across sectors. For a country that imports nearly 85% of its crude oil, exposure to such external shocks is not incidental; it is structural. What appears to be a distant conflict can, within weeks, reshape domestic economic conditions f...