Government outlines steps to safeguard industrial inputs amid Hormuz Strait disruptions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high‑level meeting on Thursday brought the nation’s top policymakers together to chart a response to the ongoing Hormuz Strait blockage. Attendees included Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and key portfolio ministers.

Beyond the immediate energy concerns, the cabinet placed emphasis on securing critical industrial inputs that could be affected by the West Asian crisis. The government has already communicated to Parliament that it is taking concrete steps to ensure a steady flow of essential commodities such as fertilisers, petro‑chemical feedstock and other manufacturing essentials.

Key initiatives involve guaranteeing gas supplies through diversified import routes, executing advance purchases for crude and refined products, and holding buffer stocks to absorb short‑term shocks. A temporary customs‑duty exemption has been granted for selected petro‑chemical feedstocks to lower production costs.

The administration also launched the India Maritime Insurance Pool Relief scheme to ease export logistics, reinstated the benefits of the RODTEP duty‑and‑tax relief for exporters, and extended liquidity support via the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0.