Modi Urges Indians to Work from Home, Cut Gold and Travel to Protect India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves
PM Modi urges citizens to adopt work-from-home, reduce gold purchases and curb nonessential foreign travel to shore up India’s foreign exchange reserves amid supply shocks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged Indians to adopt work-from-home practices, avoid nonessential overseas travel and refrain from buying gold as part of a national effort to protect India’s foreign exchange reserves.
Speaking at a public event in Hyderabad, Modi framed the appeals as measures to reduce fuel use, limit unnecessary imports and preserve foreign currency during a period of heightened global uncertainty.
The call follows a sharp rise in energy prices and supply disruptions tied to the ongoing conflict involving Iran, which New Delhi says is straining the country’s external buffers.
Modi’s public appeal in Hyderabad
Modi asked citizens to rely more on online meetings and the work-from-home model widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic to cut travel and fuel consumption.
He also recommended greater use of public transport, carpooling and reduced household consumption of cooking oil, describing such changes as both healthy and patriotic.
The prime minister urged families to postpone nonessential foreign travel for at least a year and requested farmers to scale back fertiliser application, while explicitly asking people to avoid buying gold for the time being.
Government links measures to Iran conflict and rising oil prices
Officials and the prime minister tied the appeal directly to the economic fallout from the war on Iran, which has pushed up global energy costs and complicated trade routes.
Modi compared the current economic stress to the disruptions seen during the pandemic and urged citizens to adopt voluntary restraints now to limit pressure on national finances.
The government says sustained higher energy prices and constrained shipping have intensified demand for foreign currency to pay for imports, prompting the unusual public appeal.
How the conflict has disrupted energy and fertiliser flows
The conflict, which began in late February, has led to targeted attacks on oil and gas infrastructure and restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint for global hydrocarbon shipments.
Alongside direct damage to facilities, measures such as naval interdictions and selective transit permissions have reduced the predictability and capacity of energy and fertiliser exports from the Gulf.
Those disruptions have translated into higher global crude and freight prices, increasing India’s import bill and complicating the supply of key agricultural inputs.
Decline in India’s foreign exchange reserves
Data from the Reserve Bank of India show reserves fell to $690.69 billion as of May 1, a decline of about $7.79 billion from the end of March.
Measured against the level before the outbreak of the conflict, reserves were materially higher: $728.5 billion on February 27, underscoring a sharp drawdown in a short period.
The International Monetary Fund has highlighted widening external imbalances, projecting India’s current account deficit at roughly $84 billion in 2026, which adds urgency to efforts to stabilise foreign currency holdings.
Imports of oil, gold and fertilisers drive outflows
Energy imports remain the single largest item on India’s merchandise import bill, with crude purchases worth approximately $123 billion in the most recent financial year.
Gold is the next major contributor; India imported about $72 billion worth of gold in the 2025–26 fiscal year, making it one of the world’s largest gold importers after China.
Indians’ overseas spending also plays a role: travel and related outflows amounted to an estimated $31.7 billion in 2023–24, while passenger departures rose to about 30.9 million in 2024, increasing foreign exchange demand.
Practical steps urged and potential economic effects
The measures Modi proposed — from greater remote work to cutting discretionary travel and gold purchases — aim to reduce import-driven outflows that deplete foreign exchange.
However, economists note that energy and fertiliser imports are difficult to compress without affecting industrial output and agricultural productivity, making behavioural changes among consumers more central to near-term relief.
Policymakers will need to balance short-term conservation appeals with structural steps such as diversifying suppliers, boosting domestic production and managing import bills through fiscal and monetary measures.
Modi framed the recommendations as civic duty, saying that patriotism in the present moment includes responsible consumption to safeguard national resources.
Whether households and businesses will respond at the scale needed to stabilise external accounts remains uncertain, and analysts say the ultimate effect will depend on global energy trends and the duration of supply disruptions.
For now, the government is asking for voluntary restraint as a stopgap while authorities monitor reserves and seek broader policy options to shore up India’s foreign exchange position.