India’s Modi cuts size of his motorcade to save fuel, source says

[NEW DELHI] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “significantly” cut the size of his motorcade to save fuel, a government source said on Wednesday (May 13), days after he urged citizens to tighten their belts amid a surge in energy prices triggered by the Iran war.

Modi appealed to people on Sunday to adopt austerity measures, including avoiding unnecessary foreign travel, using public transport, reducing gold purchases and cutting their use of cooking oil, as soaring global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Following the appeal, some critics on social media questioned the large motorcades of senior Indian politicians, Modi’s domestic flights and his upcoming Europe visit on his official aircraft.

The number of vehicles in Modi’s motorcade was reduced while ensuring essential security components, in line with the protocol of the Special Protection Group that guards the prime minister, the source said, without specifying the motorcade’s actual size.

Modi gets the highest level of personal security in the country and his motorcade was known to have about a dozen vehicles before the reduction.

Modi scaled down motorcades for visits this week to his home state of Gujarat and the northeastern state of Assam, the source said, adding that the prime minister had also asked for electric vehicles to be included in his motorcade where feasible but without making any new purchases.

The source declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, relies heavily on the Strait of Hormuz, closed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, for supplies of crude, liquefied natural gas and cooking gas.

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Higher oil prices threaten to widen the country’s current account deficit, hurt growth, and stoke inflation while Washington and Teheran struggle to reach a deal to end hostilities, more than a month after a tenuous ceasefire paused fighting.

India has avoided raising petrol and diesel prices so far but an increase is considered imminent due to the situation in the Middle East. REUTERS