Supply chains

About 80% of world goods trade by volume is carried on ships, according to the United Nations World Conference on Trade and Development, and India provides many of their crews.

More than 200,000 of an estimated 1.7 million seafarers globally are from India, according to Guy Platten, the Secretary General at the International Chamber of Shipping.

Otherwise it could lead to big "shortage of seafarers," which would "disrupt the global supply chain," he added.

As many countries have banned flights from India, it is already impossible to move Indian workers to ports around the world, and swap crews.

René Piil Pedersen, head of Marine Relations at Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, hopes that countries start distinguishing between regular travelers and seafarers.

"It will take a heavy toll on their mental welfare," said Pedersen, whose company employs 30% of its seafarers from India.

The pandemic threw global shipping into chaos last year, with nearly 200,000 seafarers stranded for months due to port closures and grounded airplanes.

Some places, such as the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, "have already imposed strict quarantine restrictions for vessels arriving from Indian ports," said Sankar Narayanan, manager for shipping at shipping and logistics company GAC India.

In the United States, 90% of all prescriptions are filled by generic drugs and one in every three pills consumed is produced by an Indian generics manufacturer, according to an April 2020 study by the Confederation of Indian Industry and KPMG.

But Indian drug makers get as much as 70% of their raw materials from China, a link in the supply chain that looks vulnerable given the coronavirus surge.

The country is the second-largest exporter of leather garments and the fourth-largest exporter of leather goods in the world, according to the Indian Council for Leather Exports.