Seminar: West Asia Crisis, Rising Input Costs, and the Case for Smarter Tax Relief, Not Subsidies

Think Change Forum conducted a seminar focused on the pressing economic challenges arising from the ongoing West Asia crisis and its impact on India’s economy.

The ongoing crisis in West Asia has once again highlighted India’s vulnerability to external shocks especially in energy, logistics, and commodity-linked input costs. These pressures are already feeding into agriculture, fertilizers, transport, and the broader rural economy, with clear implications for inflation and fiscal policy. While the government has responded with substantial fertilizer subsidies, the larger policy question is whether India should continue relying primarily on an expanding subsidy framework, or begin to explore more durable solutions through tax moderation and smarter fiscal design.

Key Topics explored:

·       How global shocks are transmitted into India’s domestic cost structures and inflation 

·       The fiscal and structural limits of subsidy-led responses 

·       The role of calibrated tax relief as a sustainable cushioning mechanism 

·       Balancing farmer protection, inflation control, and fiscal health