Escalating maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, coupled with persistent drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, have erased crude oil discounts and pushed up global risk premiums, threatening India’s current account deficit and OMC margins. Domestically, the All India Notebook Manufacturers Association has urged the government to impose a 10% safeguard duty on notebook imports, which jumped five-fold to ₹32.36 crore in early 2026 due to an inverted tax structure created under GST rules. Facing a severe supply deficit caused by lower production and premature export quotas, India is set to allow duty-free imports of nearly 1 million tonnes of raw sugar for the first time in ten years to stabilize domestic prices, which hit ₹5,400–5,560 per quintal in Maharashtra.