Gulf crisis hits restaurants, food delivery, cross-border payments

Happy Wednesday! The Iran crisis is starting to dent business for restaurants, food delivery apps and cross-border payments firms as disruptions to shipping routes ripple through trade and supply chains. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.

Also in the letter:
■ Cybersecurity talent crunch
■ More time for AI labelling infra
■ IT to see revenue deflation

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Restaurant body National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has advised eateries to conserve cooking gas and reduce hours to manage the supply crisis arising from the Gulf crisis.

What's happening: Ongoing hostilities in the Middle East have caused a shortage of fuel. The industry body told its 5 lakh members to consider shorter operating hours, suspend or reduce items that require long simmering and deep frying, and use lids while cooking to conserve liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Almost 90% of the country's LPG imports come from West Asia.


No alternatives: As many as half the restaurants in Mumbai may be forced to shut if the situation doesn't improve in the next two days, officials told us. Induction cooktops may not be a viable option for the scale at which these outlets operate.



Food delivery platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Ownly could see a drop in orders as thousands of restaurants scale back operations amid a shortage of commercial cooking gas.

But why? The disruption follows a squeeze in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply after the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

The government has temporarily restricted commercial LPG distribution in order to prioritise household consumption.

Tell me more: Industry groups say the shortage is already affecting restaurant operations across several cities.

• Around 10,000 eateries, including quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and cloud kitchens, have either temporarily shut or are operating at reduced capacity, according to Saili Jahagirdar, the Pune chapter head of the NRAI.
• NRAI president and Wow Momo founder Sagar Daryani told us some restaurants are exploring induction-based cooking, though the option may not work for every kitchen.

Escalating tensions in the Gulf are beginning to ripple through cross-border payments startups, as shipment delays disrupt trade flows to the Middle East and parts of Europe.

Driving the news: Founders say disruptions to major shipping routes, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, are delaying payments tied to shipments. The problem, a founder of a cross-border payments startup said, requesting anonymity, “will only get bigger in the coming weeks.”

The impact is already visible in sectors dependent on goods exports, where payments are often triggered only after shipments move.

Setting context: Shipping routes across the Gulf were disrupted following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, creating uncertainty for exporters.

• Around 10% of India's ecommerce exports, valued at roughly $150 billion annually, move through the UAE.
• India's total exports reached about $825 billion in FY25, including $387 billion in services.

Another founder noted that while merchandise shipments have felt the first shock, overall transaction volumes remain relatively stable because services exports have not been affected so far.

Fintech angle: Industry estimates suggest fintech platforms account for 5–8% of cross-border payment flows, serving small exporters, freelancers, and ecommerce sellers, while banks continue to dominate the segment.

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India's companies are facing a widening cybersecurity talent gap, making it harder to defend against rising digital threats.

Number-wise: Data from Quess Corp shows India has about 380,000 cybersecurity professionals, while demand exceeds 1.2 million.

Analysts estimate enterprises face a 30-40% shortage in roles requiring deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, enterprise platforms, and risk management.

Also Read: Programming, customer service, data entry roles among jobs most at risk from AI: Anthropic

Tell me more: Recruitment timelines for cybersecurity professionals are stretching, with companies offering higher pay to secure scarce talent.

• Critical areas such as identity architecture, threat intelligence, and platform security face the most acute shortages.
• Senior roles now take more than 90 days to fill, among the longest hiring cycles in the tech sector.
• Offer acceptance rates have dropped from 85% to 70%, with closure rates at 47%.
• Niche skills command 20-35% pay premiums, with top architects earning up to Rs 50 lakh annually.

Changing tack: With senior talent in short supply, companies are redesigning their security teams.

Instead of waiting for hard-to-fill roles, many firms are flattening security hierarchies, combining architecture and operations functions and outsourcing more work to managed security providers, Biswajeet Mahapatra, principal analyst at Forrester Research, told us.

Also Read: Two out of every three companies reduced hiring because of AI, 24% reported an increase: Report

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The Centre will give social media platforms extra time to establish the internal infrastructure required for labelling AI-generated content before strictly enforcing the amended IT rules, sources told us.

The details: Notified on February 10 and coming into effect ten days later, the rules require platforms to mandate users to declare synthetic content and employ automated tools for verification, with government audits available upon request. This has faced strong opposition from platforms and Nasscom due to tight deadlines.

Verbatim: "Major platforms and tech companies are already addressing this issue globally, and their systems are already being deployed here. However, these systems will need to be adjusted to align with the latest amendments, which have established a comprehensive framework to eliminate deepfake and harmful AI content, with detailed provisions for reporting them," an official said.

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IT to see revenue deflation: Indian IT service providers could be facing 3-3.5% revenue deflation in FY27 and FY28, according to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, up from the 2–3% estimated earlier.

Newtrace raises $6.3 million: Climate-tech startup Newtrace has raised $6.3 million (Rs 56.9 crore) in a round led by HDFC Bank and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, which valued the company at $30 million, post-money.

AquaExchange raises $8 million: Aquaculture startup AquaExchange has raised $8 million in a round co-led by Endiya Partners and Factor Analytics, with participation from existing investor Accion Ventures.

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