The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Modi Calls on Indians to Consume Less Petrol, Postpone Travel Abroad. He Isn’t Leading by Example

The austerity measures are aimed at dealing with oil and gas shortages and conserving foreign exchange.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Hyderabad, India, May 10, 2026.

At a public event in Hyderabad in southern India on May 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Indians to reduce petrol and diesel consumption, avoid non-essential gold purchases and postpone foreign travel.

“Use metros wherever metros are available. Use carpooling to go to places, and use the railways if you have to transport goods. All of this will reduce dependency on petrol and diesel,” he said. Modi urged people to work from home and switch to electric vehicles to conserve petrol, and cut the use of edible oil in cooking and chemical fertilizers for crops.

Modi’s appeal comes amid the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted oil, gas, and fertilizer supply lines from the Persian Gulf.

India imports nearly 88 percent of its crude oil requirements. And while it has diversified its sourcing of oil, its dependence on the Strait of Hormuz route remains significant; 40-50 percent of its crude imports move through this waterway.

As global oil prices surge amid the crisis in West Asia, India’s import bills have soared. India’s crude purchases ballooned from an average of 70.99 per barrel in 2025-26 to $114.48 per barrel in April and $105.4 per barrel in May this year. The country is grappling with inflation, a weakened rupee, and pressure on its current account deficit and foreign exchange reserves.

Underscoring the need to conserve foreign exchange, Modi urged Indians to cut back on the “growing culture of weddings abroad, travelling abroad, and vacationing abroad.” Avoid buying gold for a year, he said. Indians have a strong love for gold; the country is among the world’s largest consumers of the yellow metal, importing 90 percent of its domestic demand.

Modi’s appeal to Indians to tighten their belts is not unusual. Governments in India and the world over have called for austerity in times of war or economic crisis. For example, in 1967, when India was facing a severe foreign exchange crisis — its forex cover shrank by almost 65 percent over a three-week period, forcing the rupee to be devalued by 57 percent — Prime Minister Indira Gandhi urged citizens to avoid purchasing gold. Similar calls have been made by other Indian leaders in the past. Modi’s appeal is therefore not without precedent.

Modi’s call to Indians to cut consumption of petrol and diesel, gold, edible oil and fertilizers isn’t unreasonable either. These account for a major part of India’s import bill and are an important and growing drain on its forex reserves. In 2025-26, crude oil imports cost India $134.7 billion, followed by gold imports at nearly $72 billion, vegetable oils at $19.5 billion and fertilizers at $14.5 billion.........

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