Slagsmål och köer – brist på gas slår hårt mot Indien

(Bloomberg) -- The smoke rising from Babitha Sivadasan’s kitchen in rural Kerala carries a scent that belongs to her grandmother’s era.

“I have started cooking with firewood,” said Babitha, who began rationing her half-empty cooking gas cylinder after failing to secure a refill from her Indian Oil Corp. distributor. “The agency hasn’t taken bookings in a week.”

As the Iran war enters the third week and cooking gas becomes scarce amid a conflict-driven supply shock, some Indian homemakers are turning to practices of the past — a stark reminder of how geopolitics can reshape daily life in distant lands.

In Thiruvananthapuram’s bustling Chala marketplace, desperation has spilled into crime: a 19-kilogram (42 pound) cooking gas cylinder meant for commercial use was stolen from a hotel in broad daylight. What began as a supply hiccup has escalated into panic buying, hoarding, and theft in India that’s the world’s second-largest LPG buyer.

India, which imports most of its oil and depends on the Strait of Hormuz for nearly half its shipments, is among the hardest hit by Middle East volatility. Having scaled back Russian crude purchases under US pressure, New Delhi turned back to the Gulf — only to face stalled shipments, soaring costs, and a sliding rupee.

Recent US concessions over Russian oil purchase have done little to address India’s immediate shortages: Liquefied Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas. With over 90% of its LPG supplies coming from the Middle East, India’s kitchens remain exposed to all the supply shocks.

The issue is being felt nationwide. In Raisen district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, The Press Trust of India reported that consumers had blocked a main road after an agency failed to open. Hundreds had queued from nearly dawn, and by mid-morning tempers flared.

In Sanpada, on the outskirts of India’s financial capital Mumbai, queues begin at 3 am, according to the Free Press Journal. The hospitality sector has been impacted as well, with over 20% of hotels in Navi Mumbai and Raigad suspending operations. On the black market, gas cylinders fetch upwards of 3,000 rupees ($32.5).

Violence has followed. In Gorakhpur, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a scuffle at a gas distributor escalated into a fistfight last week when several men tried to jump the queue, forcing police to intervene.

As much as 5% of organized restaurants have shut, according to the National Restaurant Association of India. Mumbai-based Millo, an upscale eatery in Lower Parel, is cutting back on Asian dishes like noodles and rice that consume more gas, founder Sujit Mehta told Bloomberg News.

The food industry is currently operating with about 25% fewer cylinders, according to Karan Taurani, an analyst at Elara Securities. Food delivery platforms Eternal Ltd.’s Zomato and Swiggy Ltd. are vulnerable, he added, since much of their order volume comes from non-chain restaurants most exposed to shortages.

University campuses to large tech parks have also begun scaling back their menus.

In Mumbai’s high-rises, there’s a quiet anxiety. Kriti Mittal, a working mother, swapped her gas stove for an electric induction cooktop on March 10 — a preemptive move against the energy crunch.

She isn’t alone. Dhanshree Shah, 56, made the same purchase despite no formal warnings from her piped gas provider. “I bought it for safety,” Shah explained. “It’s about securing my kitchen for the future.”

This shift is visible at retail giants like Avenue Supermarts Ltd.-run retail chain DMart, where executives report that induction cookers and compatible cookware are flying off the shelves, with branches struggling to restock. On March 11, induction cooktop sales jumped 30-fold on delivery app Bigbasket, Seshu Kumar Tirumala, its chief buying and merchandising officer, said in a statement.

About 320,000 tons of LPG is stranded on ships waiting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary with India’s shipping ministry told reporters on Wednesday. The government is also making efforts to provide alternate fuels, such as kerosene and coal, to LPG users.

In a press briefing Tuesday at New Delhi, Indian government officials sought to calm nerves. They insisted LPG deliveries remain smooth and urged commercial users to shift to piped gas.

Yet, the officials conceded that the situation was still worrisome and called for austerity — something that families like Babitha’s have already embraced by rationing cylinders and reviving firewood.

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