India Reports 2.8 Lakh Returns, 22 Ships and 611 Seafarers in Gulf as West Asia War Hits Fuel and Trade
India on Thursday expanded its multi-ministerial response to the worsening West Asia conflict, saying fuel supplies remain stable but under pressure, maritime monitoring has intensified across the Gulf, evacuation and transit assistance for Indian nationals is continuing around the clock, and a new ₹497 crore export relief package has been approved as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts energy flows, shipping and trade.
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| File Photo of Rajesh Kumar, Special Secretary, Ministry Of Port, Shipping And Waterways; Via: Daily Excelsior |
Sujata Sharma said the immediate crude and refining situation remained under control. “Crude situation and refinery operations [are] normal,” she said, adding that there had been “no dry-out reported” at retail pumps and that “all the retail outlets are operating normally.” She said domestic PNG and CNG transport supplies were being maintained at 100% without any cut, even as the government continued pressing commercial LPG consumers to move to piped alternatives where possible.
Sharma said the strain remained most visible in LPG, where the war-linked shipping disruption has forced the government to reorder priorities and accelerate substitution. “The LPG situation is still a matter of concern,” she said, even though “there is no dry-out at any distributorship.” She stressed that home deliveries were continuing and that panic bookings had eased. According to her, online bookings have climbed to 94%, Delivery Authentication Code coverage has risen to 83%, and panic bookings have declined to around 57 lakh. “Yesterday total booking was 56 lakh and the supply was 55 lakh 49 thousand,” she said, arguing that the core problem was no longer a collapse in supply but distribution bottlenecks and local-level hoarding.
To reduce pressure on LPG, the government is pushing an aggressive transition to piped gas. Sharma said commercial users were being urged to shift from LPG to PNG, companies had announced incentives, and the Centre had written to states asking them to treat pending permissions for city gas distribution as deemed approved and clear new applications within 24 hours. She said these efforts had already helped generate roughly 1.25 lakh new domestic, commercial and industrial PNG connections over about two weeks, while more than 5,600 LPG users had shifted to PNG in the previous three days alone. She added that the Centre had also told states that those helping expand PNG networks would be eligible for an additional 10% allocation of commercial LPG.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas also spelt out the broader emergency architecture it is building to prevent shortages and deter black marketing. Sharma said the Centre had written first on March 13 and again on March 18 to all states and Union Territories, asking them to activate district collectors and enforcement teams, curb hoarding and diversion, and take strict legal action wherever violations are found. She said 31 states and Union Territories had now set up control rooms and 25 had established district-level monitoring committees. She also urged states to conduct daily press briefings, publicize helplines and push back against rumours so that “panic and rumours can be controlled.”
The enforcement push is already visible on the ground. Sharma said that over 6,000 raids had been carried out, with more than 11,000 cylinders seized, while the press briefing also cited significant state-level action. In Uttar Pradesh, she said, around 1,100 raids had led to the seizure of roughly 1,000 cylinders, 17 FIRs and one arrest. In Madhya Pradesh, she said, 1,632 raids had resulted in the seizure of around 25,000 cylinders, while Telangana had reported around 1,000 raids and the seizure of about 2,300 cylinders. Public sector oil marketing companies, she added, are also carrying out more than 2,000 surprise inspections daily at retail outlets and LPG distributorships.
Sharma said the government was also widening the range of fallback fuels. Additional kerosene allocations amounting to 48,000 kilolitres have been made to states and Union Territories, with 15 of them already issuing orders. She said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had advised state pollution control boards to permit kerosene and coal as alternate fuels, while the Ministry of Coal had asked Coal India and Singareni Collieries to provide higher allocations to states for small, medium and other consumers. “Government of India [has] given highest priority [to] domestic LPG and PNG consumers,” she said, while repeating an appeal for citizens to avoid rumours, use official channels, conserve energy, switch to alternate fuels where possible and wait for home delivery rather than lining up at distributors.
She also explained why the Centre issued a fresh gazette notification under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act designating the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, or PPAC, as the nodal agency for collecting and analysing information from the entire petroleum and natural gas chain. Asked why this was needed if PPAC already collected industry data, Sharma said the purpose was to give the exercise “legal strength,” so that “everybody has to give the information” and compliance would be more enforceable.
On India’s external energy vulnerability, Sharma was unusually blunt. “Almost 90% of our import was from Middle East” in LPG, she said, while “47% of our import was from Qatar” in LNG. “Anything which impacts the supply from Middle East impacts us,” she said. But she also argued that the answer lay in diversification. India has already diversified crude supplies to the point where “around 70% of our crude is coming from the area outside Gulf [and the] Strait of Hormuz,” she said, and is attempting a similar strategy in LPG and LNG, drawing some LPG from the United States and identifying alternative LNG suppliers such as the United States and Australia. Asked about Brent crude crossing $120 a barrel and whether domestic pump prices might rise, she said there was “definitely” price pressure but “till now there is no price increase.”
Maritime operations formed the second pillar of the government’s response. Rajesh Kumar Sinha said all Indian-flagged ships and Indian seafarers in the region were safe and that no maritime incident involving Indian-flagged vessels had been reported in the past 24 hours. He said the position of Indian-flagged vessels west of Hormuz remained unchanged at 22 ships carrying 611 Indian seafarers, all of them safe, with the Directorate General of Shipping maintaining constant coordination with shipowners, employment agencies and Indian missions.
Sinha said the DG Shipping control room remained active around the clock and had handled 150 calls and about 215 emails in the previous 24 hours, adding to a cumulative total of 3,425 calls and 6,539 emails since activation. He said 16 Indian seafarers had returned to India in the past 24 hours after signing off in the Gulf, bringing the total number of repatriated Indian seafarers to more than 488. He also said the ministry was coordinating not only with major ports but also with state maritime boards in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, and that “no congestion” had been reported.
He gave a granular update on port-side contingency planning. Deendayal Port Authority, he said, had created additional storage capacity by making available around 54 acres of land and had also introduced operational support measures and waivers. Under a March 17 circular, the port granted users a 50% rebate on harbour mobile crane charges. Sinha said the ministry continued to monitor ship movements, port operations, seafarer welfare and the continuity of maritime trade “very closely,” alongside state maritime boards, as the West Asia situation evolves.
He also filled in specific vessel details requested earlier by reporters. East of Hormuz, he said, there were two container vessels: CMA CGM Victoria, at Sohar Port in Oman with 24 Indian seafarers on board, and SSL Godavari, on its way to Khor Fakkan in the UAE with 23 Indian seafarers. He also identified a Russian-linked crude tanker that had drawn media attention, saying the vessel was Aqua Titan, chartered by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, with expected arrival at New Mangalore Port on March 21 carrying crude oil.
On the diplomatic and evacuation front, the government used the briefing to underline that leader-level outreach remains active. Randhir Jaiswal said India had been “in touch at the level of leadership with various countries since the onset of this conflict.” He disclosed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken the previous day with Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, with the two leaders exchanging views on the evolving situation and sharing concern over recent developments.
Jaiswal said Modi reiterated India’s condemnation of attacks on Kuwait’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, underlined that ensuring “safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz” was a foremost priority, and agreed with the Kuwaiti leader that sustained diplomatic engagement remained essential for regional peace and stability. He added that Modi also thanked the Crown Prince for continued support for the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Kuwait and conveyed Eid greetings.
Jaiswal tied that leader-level outreach to India’s broader wartime diplomatic posture. “India has continuously emphasized” the need to ensure “unimpeded transit of goods and energy,” he said, and has also called for avoiding the targeting of civilian infrastructure, “including energy infrastructure across the region.”
He said these were priorities shared by “a large part of the global community” because the impact of the conflict was now being felt globally. Asked whether India’s multi-vector diplomacy was being tested by the war, he said it had been “a testing time” not only for India but for the entire international community, adding that India’s engagement with several stakeholders had already helped secure passage for two LPG ships through Hormuz and would continue as New Delhi worked to protect both its energy needs and its people.
Aseem R. Mahajan provided the operational picture for Indian nationals across the region. He said the Ministry of External Affairs continued to monitor developments in the Gulf and wider West Asia closely, with the “safety, security and welfare” of the large Indian community remaining the “utmost priority.” A dedicated MEA special control room remains operational round the clock, he said, while Indian missions and posts across the region continue to function 24x7, issue updated advisories and remain in close contact with local authorities.
Mahajan said those missions were proactively assisting seafarers, students, stranded Indian nationals and short-term visitors with visas, consular services and logistical support as needed. He said that since February 28, around 2,80,000 passengers had returned from the region to India. Flight operations, while still subject to closures and restrictions in some countries, were improving.
In the UAE, he said, about 75 flights operated on March 18 and around 90 were expected to operate on March 19 from various airports to India. Flights were continuing from Oman and Saudi Arabia. Qatar’s airspace remained partially open, with Qatar Airways operating nine non-scheduled flights to India on Thursday.
Kuwait’s airspace, by contrast, had remained closed since February 28, though Jazeera Airways had announced special non-scheduled commercial flights from Al-Qaisumah Airport in Saudi Arabia, with the first flight to Cochin due on Friday. Bahrain’s airspace also remained closed, though Gulf Air was operating special flights from Dammam in Saudi Arabia. For Indians in Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, Mahajan said, transit through Saudi Arabia continued to be facilitated, especially in emergency cases.
He also provided an update on the crew of MT Safesea Vishnu, saying the 15 Indian crew members who had been safely rescued had left Iraq and were expected to return to India shortly. The Indian mission, he said, remained in touch with both the crew and Iraqi authorities to facilitate their return and to expedite repatriation of the mortal remains of the Indian national who died in the incident.
The government used the same platform to address the economic effects beyond energy. S. Rajan said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had, just before the briefing, announced a relief package for exporters affected by West Asia logistics disruptions. The package, titled RELIEF — short for Resilience and Logistic Intervention for Export Facilitation — has been approved under the Export Promotion Mission with a total financial outlay of ₹497 crore. Rajan said an Inter-Ministerial Group on Supply Chain Resilience had been operational since March 3, meeting daily to review the evolving situation and coordinate facilitation measures, with the RELIEF package formulated on the basis of those continuous assessments.
Rajan also warned that cyber fraud linked to the LPG situation was spreading. He said malicious files labelled “gas bill update APK” were being circulated through messaging platforms to trick users into downloading malware that could expose bank accounts and personal data. He urged citizens not to download suspicious files or applications and to report such attempts to the police and complaint helplines, stressing that only official platforms should be used for LPG booking.
In response to questions about maritime insurance, Sinha said India was pursuing its own initiative rather than copying another country’s model. He described efforts led by the Department of Financial Services to create a domestic protection and indemnity insurance club as an important but still evolving policy initiative. He said the exercise remained at an advanced deliberative stage and would likely proceed in a graduated way, beginning with one segment before scaling up.
The briefing also offered reassurance on fertilizer imports, another area of concern as Gulf routes come under stress. Jaiswal said India was “comfortable” with fertilizer stocks for the kharif 2026 season, that the Department of Fertilizers had floated global tenders well in advance, and that there had been good responses from multiple sources, with the bulk of the ordered quantities expected by the end of March. He added that India was maintaining a diversified approach to fertilizer sourcing and remained in touch with several countries on that front.
As IndianRepublic.in has reported throughout this conflict, the war’s center of gravity has shifted from the battlefield alone to the infrastructure systems that sustain economies: gas fields, shipping corridors, LNG hubs, ports, refineries and air routes. Thursday’s inter-ministerial briefing showed India responding to that broader reality with a crisis architecture that is now stretching from district LPG monitoring committees to Gulf evacuation lines, from PPAC data mandates to port storage concessions, and from leader-level diplomacy to cargo diversification.
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