All That Glitters Can Wait

Yet this glittering obsession exacts a steep toll. Heavy buying drains foreign-exchange reserves, widens the current-account deficit, pressures the rupee, and leaves fewer dollars for life’s essentials-oil and fertilizer. The timing could not be more perilous. Since the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran erupted in late February 2026, global oil prices have shot skyward, ballooning India’s oil-import bill and tightening the noose on the economy at the worst possible moment. Now, the appeal is widening beyond gold. The Prime Minister is signalling something larger: a national campaign of restraint. Officials are increasingly speaking the language of conservation: fewer unnecessary drives, more…