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Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the people, twice in two days, to take some austerity measures, leading banker Uday Kotak on Tuesday warned that the global economy is on the verge of a significant “shock” as the delayed consequences of the prolonged US-Iran war are set to kick in now.

Kotak, Founder and Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said businesses and policymakers need to adopt a mindset of “strategic paranoia” and start immediate preparation to survive the downturn in financial stability, the media reported him as saying.

“We haven’t seen the impact of the war in two months, but now it’s coming, and it’s coming big …You are not far away from the shock unless the Iran war stops tomorrow morning. We need to get ready for tough times rather than waiting for the shock to hit us,” Kotak said at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026.

“We should prepare for paranoia before the event,” he said, stressing on a low-cost reshaping of the Indian economy and the need for businesses to take the initiative instead of making demands of the government.

“Let’s move as people, businesses, and policymakers to work more than our talk,” he said.

Kotak noted that the world was moving from a collaborative mindset back to pre-1945 tribalism where countries fought for control over trade routes and physical assets. The control over tangible assets was getting concentrated in a few hands.

“We need to be strategic and real in this tribal mindset world… what matters is control over assets, supported by a strong P&L (profit & loss),” he said.

Over the last two days PM Modi, too, has been cautioning citizens about the likely tough times ahead and asking them to adopt austerity to preserve India’s economic resilience.

Speaking in Secunderabad and Hyderabad, he urged citizens to refrain from buying gold for a year, voluntarily reduce fuel consumption, adopt shared transport, reduce edible oil consumption, postpone foreign travel and destination weddings, and revive COVID-19-era work-from-home practices to insulate the nation from surging energy costs and the disruption of supply lines through the Strait of Hormuz.

Addressing a rally organized by the Telangana BJP in Hyderabad, he also advised the people to use metro rail services in cities, carpooling, increased use of electric vehicles (EVs), and utilizing railway services for parcel movement.

energy supplies

Speaking at the CII event, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri assured that there is no fuel supply issue and said the government has ramped up LPG production from 35,000-36,000 tonnes per day to 54,000 tonnes amid the ongoing West Asia conflict.

There is no LPG supply issue and the country has 69 days of crude oil, LNG stock and 45 days of LPG stock.

He said PM Modi’s austerity appeal should be taken as a wakeup call and urged the people to start thinking of “measures” to ease fiscal strain from the war.