War Financial News

With under-recoveries of fuel retailers exceeding last week’s cut in special excise duty and the war in West Asia still in escalation mode, pressure on their margins is likely to continue. By the government’s estimates, oil companies are suffering losses of about ₹24 per litre on petrol and ₹30 per litre on diesel.

Vietnam War. It was 8 June 1972. Dozens of children were running for safety after the US bombing in Vietnam’s Trang Bang region.

NSE), typically happens on the last Tuesday of every month. With markets shut on Tuesday for Mahavir Jayanti, the rollover will take place a day earlier, on Monday.“Investors or traders opting to exercise or physically settle their stock options and futures upon monthly expiry could provide an element of support to the market,” said Kruti Shah, quant analyst at Equirus Securities.If, instead, traders close out positions or roll them over to the next month, it would signal more short aggression, Shah said.

Four Indian state-run oil and gas companies are in talks to source cooking and natural gas from Angola's public-sector major Sonangol as the country faces a supply shortage following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war, said two people aware of the developments.Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp.

West Asia have already come to a halt due to the ongoing war, and the rising freight cost is acting as a stumbling block in exporting to other nations."We had a meeting with officials of DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade), commerce ministry, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and highlighted the plight of basmati rice exporters,” said Ajay Bhalothia, general secretary, All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA).“We were assured by government stakeholders that the Ministry of Shipping would shortly meet major shipping line operators to address the escalating logistical challenges including high freight rates," Bhalothia added.Shipping disruptions, along with rising freight and insurance costs, are posing a significant threat to India’s nearly $6 billion basmati rice trade. The concern comes amid mounting uncertainty over consignments headed to the Gulf region, which accounts for about 60–70% of India’s total basmati exports.Another exporter, who was also in the meeting, confirmed the development.

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Mint.GMR's appeal, through its airport joint venture Delhi International Airport Ltd (Dial), came just ahead of the launch of the National Capital Region’s second major airport in Jewar, sharpening competition for traffic. With jet fuel accounting for about a third of airline costs, the tax gap risks higher fares and a significant traffic shift, the company said. GMR had made a similar appeal last year too.The company has simultaneously sought the Union civil aviation ministry's backing on the matter.The Jewar airport, 90 km from the IGI airport, the country’s busiest one, was inaugurated on 28 March by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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the New York Times. This is to give Trump additional military options even as he weighs a new diplomatic initiative with the Islamic republic, according to the report.“About 2,300 Marines from the 31st Expeditionary Unit are scheduled to arrive in the Middle East later this week, and U.S.

India’s petroleum reserves have come under scrutiny since the outbreak of the West Asia war, with concerns intensifying as government data showed India’s current capacity in strategic reserves can only cover roughly five-six days of total consumption.Now, this is not as alarming as it seems, as India’s overall capacity is much higher. However, the current crisis has put a spotlight on India’s limited ability in the face of severe shocks to oil, gas and petroleum product supply.India currently has three strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs)—buried in underground caverns—in Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, and Padur.

Reserve Bank of India had adopted the inflation-targeting regime in 2016. While some have argued for raising the target or shifting focus from headline to core inflation, the dominant view is that the framework has broadly worked.Data shows inflation breached the band in only three of the past 10 years—two instances (2020–21 and 2022–23) driven by the pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war.

Mint India Investment Summit in Mumbai on Friday.“You will lose some… but there’s no need to say the world is coming to an end… this will come out better,” said Puri, who was conferred the lifetime achievement award at the summit.He pushed back against concerns of large-scale displacement from the adoption of AI, adding that the technology is already creating new roles across the value chain.“This is just the raw material… somebody has to convert what was a possibility into reality,” he said, adding that this will create emerging demand for prompt engineers, context engineers and specialized data scientists.Calling AI one of the biggest opportunities, Puri said its impact will be most visible in customer-facing sectors such as banking.“AI can and should be used in a full role for efficiency and for profit,” he said, adding it can used for applications in credit assessment, marketing, fraud detection and operations. At the same time, he cautioned against overestimating the pace of change.“It’s here to stay… but it’s not as if everything is going to be implemented overnight,” he said, adding there is too much negative hype on job losses.Puri maintained that India’s structural growth story remains intact, backed by strong fundamentals.

Give credit where it’s due. Despite all the setbacks, Donald Trump is right that the US-Israeli war in Iran war hasn’t triggered the oil price super-spike many feared—at least not yet. “I thought it would be worse, much worse,” the American president said last week, and it’s hard to disagree.

HLL Lifecare Ltd, Mankind Pharma Ltd and Cupid Ltd are grappling with the unavailability of silicone oil (polydimethylsiloxane PDMS) and a surge in ammonia prices, according to multiple people aware of the development. Ammonia is used to stabilize latex and remove excess proteins, while silicone oil coating acts as a lubricant.Production and order execution have been affected by supply constraints and price volatility in key inputs such as polyvinyl chloride foil, aluminium foil, poly, chemicals, and other packaging materials, as well as by logistics disruptions, said a senior executive from a leading condom maker in the country.Around 40–50% price hike is expected in ammonia, and an “exorbitant increase in the price of silicone oil is causing market uncertainty”, said an executive, who didn’t want to be identified.As it nears four weeks, the West Asia war has disrupted trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

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F-15E Strike Eagles on March 1—all six crew members safely ejected. A new-model F-15 today costs about $100 million.A U.S. F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter made an emergency landing on March 19, and its pilot was in stable condition.

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disrupted trade routes and spiked freight and insurance costs.India's annual edible oil demand is around 26 million tonnes (mt), with domestic production meeting only up to 40% of this.According to latest trade data, India imported 14,963 tonnes of palm oil and 175,502 tonnes crude soybean oil from China between November 2025 and February 2026, as against a total of 36,000 tonnes of edible oils in the entire year ended October 2025.This is still a modest figure, given India’s total edible oil imports of around 16 mt. However, the sharp rise in shipments shows a growing willingness among importers to explore non-traditional sources amid tightening global supply conditions.Industry experts see Chinese edible oil imports rising further, as competitive pricing and lower logistics costs will give them an edge over the country's traditional exporters.According to traders, on an average, retail prices have risen by ₹15-20 per litre across edible oils including soybean, rice-bran, cottonseed, palm, groundnut and sunflower over the past one month.

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Mint.While the immediate impact of the ongoing conflict remains limited, non-bank lenders believe the real risk lies in a prolonged conflict, which could trigger second-order effects across inflation, demand and credit cycles.“...we have started becoming very cautious but the war situation is also evolving. It's unfair for us to also pull down and stop the supply but we have to be very cautious in terms of lending and leverage,” the head of a non-banking financial company said on the condition of anonymity.According to lenders, the first signs of stress are emerging in small businesses, especially those dependent on gas for production, exports and global trade routes for sales.