India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer behind the U.S. and China, was meant to be a major driver of oil’s demand recovery as economies reopened. But the country’s devastating health crisis has made that impossible. Everyone from oil traders to the world’s biggest producers are panicking.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing mounting criticism over a surge in coronavirus cases that began shortly after his government declared the country was "in the endgame of the COVID-19 pandemic,” allowed large election rallies and gave the go-ahead to the Kumbh Mela religious festival that attracted an estimated 3.5 million devotees.
As my Bloomberg Opinion colleague David Fickling wrote, the current situation in India means COVID-19 will probably kill more people in 2021 than it did last year. The pandemic death toll in the country is likely to be many times higher than official figures suggest.