The Indian coalition government led by Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party leader, and Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, is watching the return of inflation to India with understandable alarm.

Political analyst Ashutosh Varshney remarked recently that inflation was the only economic statistic with any bearing on Indian elections. Economic growth impresses foreign investors but not Indian peasants, as the previous government led by the Bharatiya Janata party discovered when its “India shining” slogan failed to convince voters in 2004.