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Snapshot of the day
September 16, 2026
Anirudh S.K., Kalrav Joshi
Legislators in the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. today passed by a 262-159 vote the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which would allow President Donald Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top buyers of Russian oil, including India. The Bill, which provides for a range of sanctions against Russian officials and Moscow’s shadow fleet of vessels, was passed by the Senate last month in an 86-11 vote and now awaits the president's approval. India remains the second-biggest buyer of Russian oil, behind only China. Two months ago Russia’s share of Indian crude imports hit an all-time high of 50.83%.
This share has climbed in recent months in light of the West Asia crisis choking off energy supplies from that region. Growing uncertainty has pushed up oil prices – the benchmark Brent crude is at around $108 a barrel – which in turn is among a number of factors weighing on the Indian stock market, where shares rebounded slightly on Wednesday after having slid over 5% over the last month or so. A day prior, investors had ended the session some Rs 9.5 lakh crore poorer as the Sensex fell nearly 778 points and the Nifty dropped 1.19% to a five-month low. Wednesday’s uptick came on the back of the Modi government announcing a new merchant discount rate on the hitherto free UPI.
Foreign portfolio investors for their part have offered little comfort: in the first ten trading sessions of this month alone they sold off roughly Rs 13,138 crore of Indian equities, pushing 2026’s net outflows to roughly Rs 2.37 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit unexpectedly improved to $26.9 billion in August, down from $31.98 billion the previous month, driven particularly by a cut in gold inflows. Exports went down in August compared to July but were the highest compared to any August in the last decade, note Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar.
Speaking of the new merchant levies on UPI, observers have been quick to point out that it was only a year ago that the finance ministry stressed that anyone claiming it had plans to impose an MDR was a liar peddling sensationalism and fear. Now, after
