However, experts said that while inflation will remain within the Reserve Bank of India’s 2% to 6% target range, it is unlikely to trigger policy action owing to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Looming energy crisis<\/p>\n The U.S.-Israel war in Iran has disrupted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a key corridor for global energy trade \u2014 threatening India’s supply of crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a primary cooking fuel. <\/p>\n Currently, around 30% of India’s crude oil supplies and 90% of LPG imports transit<\/a> through the Strait of Hormuz, the government said in a note on Wednesday.<\/p>\n While households are not yet facing a shortage of cooking fuel, prices have risen. Many hotels and restaurants in the country that use commercial LPG cylinders are facing closure<\/a> as supply has been diverted to households.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\tGet a weekly roundup of news from India in your inbox every Thursday. India’s “Goldilocks narrative of strong growth and low inflation” has continued under the new GDP and CPI series but is “challenged by higher crude oil prices and fuel shortages,” global brokerage Nomura said in a report on Wednesday. <\/p>\n It added that “elevated oil prices” caused by disruptions in the Middle East are likely to curb the Reserve Bank of India’s dovishness. “We expect a policy [rate] hold from here on,” the report said.<\/p>\n Global oil prices have risen sharply<\/a> since the start of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, with Brent crude touching $100 a barrel earlier today.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/inside_india_widget_logo_2026.png\"){kind=logo}
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