A long feature on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in executive office describes how the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, first reached India through imports. India buys 88 percent of its oil abroad and most of its fertiliser, and both markets moved at once.
The article says the first task was people. Operation Ganga flew 22,500 Indians out of Ukraine in three weeks on 90 flights. Four Union ministers were posted to the Polish, Romanian, Hungarian and Slovak borders to move them across.
The second task was price. India bought oil where it was cheap, raising Russian crude from 2 percent of imports to a third in two years, and held that line against pressure from Western capitals. Indian inflation never reached double digits. New Delhi negotiated with the West, Kyiv and Moscow while keeping India’s energy interests paramount.