The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government is classically caught between a rock and a hard place. Barely a month after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented one of his dream budgets in February, he is faced with a tough choice—either to spur growth by encouraging Indians to spend more on cars, houses and consumer goods or to reign in prices.

Evidently, the finance minister can’t have his cake and eat it too so he has chosen to sacrifice growth at the altar of inflation, which climbed to 6.68 per cent in the week ended March 15 from 4.1 per cent in January and 5.92 per cent just a week ago. ... Read full article