Heightened conflict around the Strait of Hormuz is causing significant operational cost pressures for global shipping lines such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, driving up bunker fuel, insurance, and rerouting expenses. Concurrently, a US White House report titled “The Great Transshipment Scam” placed India among 40 nations allegedly involved in facilitating China-linked transshipment risks, pointing specifically to the Pune-Gujarat-Chennai manufacturing belt. In response, Indian trade bodies and officials noted that the US report lacks shipment-level evidence and fails to distinguish legitimate manufacturing and processing from actual tariff evasion. Furthermore, despite shipping delays and high freight costs triggered by the West Asia crisis, India’s rice exports managed a marginal rise of 1.7% to $1.82 billion during the April-July period.