How India is navigating the West Asia storm

THE NARENDRA MODI government, it must be said, is no stranger to crises. First, there was the Covid-19 pandemic which upended the world economy, throwing all calculations off gear. The government then undertook what would turn out to be the largest public vaccination drive ever undertaken in the world, while also taking steps to insulate the Indian economy from the massive impact of the pandemic as much as possible. Just as it became clear that the worst of the pandemic and its impact was behind us, came the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. In 2025, the Trump administration’s tariff hit also threatened to upset calculations and dent India’s growth plans. But the government stood firm and moved rapidly to strike a slew of free trade agreements (FTAs), with the key ones being with the U.K. and the European Union. A trade agreement with the U.S. is also in the works. And as things were normalising again, the U.S.-Israel combine’s war against Iran, which has now entered its second month, has come as a massive blow not just to India but to the world at large, threatening global energy supplies and supply chains like never before. It’s no surprise, then, that Prime Minister Modi called upon everyone to be united in dealing with this massive crisis.