When the Strait of Hormuz closed at the end of February, GoI chose a single priority from which everything else would follow- that the citizens of our country, specially those who are the most vulnerable, had to be protected from the unprecedented supply and price disruptions. This instinct of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held through almost four months of the largest energy disruption in modern history.
The verdict on India had been written even before the facts were in: a country importing more than 85% of its crude, the argument ran, could not survive the closure of Hormuz through which more than 20-30% of the world’s hydrocarbons moves. Pumps would run dry within days, prices would run wild (as they did in many other nations) and the economy would crumble.
