India, May 22 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Hyderabad on May 10, made an extraordinary appeal: skip buying gold for weddings this year. Defer that overseas holiday and work from home as much as possible. The fact that a sitting PM is asking ordinary citizens to alter personal decisions because the national balance sheet is under strain is deeply concerning. And when a leader of Modi's stature makes that kind of appeal, the underlying economics must be genuinely alarming.

India imports nearly 88% of its crude oil and 60% of its LPG, and the overwhelming bulk of it flows through the 33-kilometre-wide Strait of Hormuz. Since early March 2026, that strait has been effectively blocked following the escalation of the U...