Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is working on support measures similar to the emergency liquidity credit guarantee scheme introduced during the pandemic for units affected by supply disruptions, price rise and insurance risk. She said such assistance was being considered as India deals with continued uncertainty arising from global conflicts and disruptions.

Sitharaman in a conversation with The Economic Times, said uncertainty had marked the Covid outbreak, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Iran conflict and now the Strait of Hormuz issue. She said these developments had created unpredictability and challenges around critical inputs such as fertiliser and fuel, which are important for India because the country imports most of its crude oil and related product requirements.

She said the challenges around these commodities had appeared unending and relentless, but added that India had the advantage of refining capacity. According to her, the country uses what it gets for domestic needs and is also able to export.

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Sitharaman said India’s domestic consumption was giving the economy its shock-absorbing capacity. She said that as long as consumption remained boosted and well supported, the country could weather the storm, and added that this was the biggest support for the economy.

On reforms, Sitharaman told the financial daily that every challenge was an opportunity and that the government would continue with reforms. She said not only the finance ministry but every ministry was working on easing the compliance burden and regulatory stiffness, and added that more steps would gradually be seen.

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She also referred to earlier support measures, saying that when additional US tariffs were imposed, the government came up with a package to help those exposed to the US market. She said a package was also brought in December last year for affected people, and added that support similar to what was offered during the pandemic, such as the emergency liquidity credit guarantee scheme or something of that order, was being considered for units affected by supply disruptions, price rise or insurance risk. She said all these issues were being kept in mind and that work was under way.

Sitharaman said India was facing a phase of prolonged external uncertainty, but added that domestic consumption, refining capacity, continued reforms and possible targeted support for affected units were central to the government’s response.

Published on: Apr 27, 2026 11:14 AM IST