The West Asian conflict of 2026 has exposed how vulnerable India's energy and fertilizer supply chains are to chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz. Suggest a strategy for resilience.

Since the U.S.–Israel strikes on Iran in February 2026, the Hormuz blockade has had a "choking effect" on India's energy and fertilizer imports and goods trade. At least 24 Indians have been killed, 15 of them seafarers [1]. India cannot control the conflict, but it can reduce how exposed it is to it. That needs a layered strategy.

1. Build buffers (short term)

• Keep the Strategic Petroleum Reserves full. Phase-I holds 5.33 MMT at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur [2].
• Fast-track Phase-II (6.5 MMT at Chandikhol and Padur), built as commercial-cum-strategic facilities [3].
• Stock fertilizer before the kharif and rabi seasons, because a missed sowing window cannot be made up later.

2. Diversify suppliers and routes (medium term)

• Buy crude, LNG and fertilizers from more suppliers outside the Gulf, on long-term contracts.
• Pursue overseas joint ventures for phosphate and potash, and favour loading terminals that sit outside the Strait.
• Use the commercial-cum-strategic model to invite foreign oil companies to store crude in Indian caverns, which adds stock at little cost to the government [3].

3. Reduce structural dependence (long term)

• Fertilizers: Scale up nano-urea and nano-fertilizers, which raise nutrient-use efficiency and lower import demand [4]. Build on record domestic urea output of over 314 LMT in 2023-24 [4], and extend import substitution to phosphatic fertilizers.
• Energy: Expand renewables, green hydrogen, ethanol blending and electric mobility to cut how much crude each unit of growth needs.

4. Protect people and shipping

• DG Shipping should issue clear advisories on high-risk waters and make employers pay for crew repatriation.
• The Indian Navy should escort Indian-flagged and Indian-crewed vessels where it can.
• MEA should press both belligerents on crew safety, since both the U.S. and Iran attacked vessels carrying Indian crew [1].

5. Institutional backbone

• Set up an inter-ministerial chokepoint-risk cell (Petroleum, Fertilizers, Shipping, MEA) that runs stress tests and has pre-approved response plans.

Resilience therefore rests on four things: buffers, diversification, substitution and protection. Strategic autonomy keeps India out of other countries' wars, but it protects Indian supplies and citizens only when backed by these practical tools. Working this way also advances Atmanirbhar Bharat, SDG 7 (affordable energy) and SDG 2 (food security), so that the next chokepoint crisis disrupts India's supplies without crippling them.