Gulf war batters India’s glass heartland, testing New Delhi’s manufacturing drive

Famed as India’s “Glass City” with a four-century tradition of glassmaking, Firozabad’s furnaces are now burning low, putting thousands of day labourers out of work in what would normally be peak season. The industry has been crippled by the war in the Middle East because of its intense energy needs. Gas-fired heat chambers need to run constantly at above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) to keep the glass molten and prevent defects. India’s heavy reliance on gas across the econom...