Iran War Impact: How India is dealing with the fallout of the conflict

THE GEOPOLITICAL CRISIS emanating from West Asia, in the wake of the U.S.-Israel joint attack on Iran that began on February 28, and the subsequent spread of the conflagration, is the fourth global shock for the Indian economy in the last six years.

It all began with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which came as a jolt to an already-slowing domestic economy over the two years preceding the contagion. Even as India and the whole world were slowly recovering from the pandemic blues, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February 2022, jeopardising macro stability with rising inflation and high interest rates, and posing challenges to economic growth. The third major disruption came in the form of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs and the subsequent penal tariffs for Russian oil purchases, taking the overall tariffs to a whopping 50% on India, before a trade deal framework was signed between both nations on February 10 this year. The geopolitical crisis emanating from West Asia, in the wake of the U.S.-Israel joint attack on Iran that began on February 28, and the subsequent spread of the conflagration, is the fourth global shock for the Indian economy in the last six years.