"A quick mail to give you my feedback from a 4-day business trip to India last week:

"From TV news and people I met, the economy is growing at 7%+ and optimism is not abating; the main concern is inflation, particularly food inflation. New measures are taken in the 2010 budget to encourage agriculture and fertilizer companies. I was told that a few weeks before my arrival, food riots erupted in Bombay.

"On the security front, Maoists blew up a rail track in northern India, and a bomb attack in Pune killed 7 people and injured 50+ 3-days after my return. There is however no sense of insecurity beyond the army presence at Bombay's airport.

"Last, at the customs, they have a system to match your face with the photograph on the passport that looks rather efficient. They are more advanced than all European airports I came across recently. And I was rather impressed to see all these custom officers present at 3 am whilst when arriving in Charles de Gaulle airport at 1.30pm there was only two and long queues...Best regards,"

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this informative email. Your three points highlight important issues for India. In a democracy where the poor are most affected by food price inflation we can expect politicians to be particularly sensitive to this issue. However, any policy initiatives that seek to create larger farmers or liberalise the retail food sector face considerable obstacles from domestic vested interests. Success in tackling related issues as well as the benefits that can be gained from increased mechanization and the use of GM crops would contribute to getting inflationary pressures under control. Last year's weak monsoon also contributed to current pressure on food prices. The authorities cannot control the weather but better policies can be put in place to tackle such events when they occur.

India is a vast country with numerous ethnicities, religions and political philosophies competing for dominance. This has occasionally erupted into highly public acts of terrorism but the democratic principles on which the country is founded continue to succeed in creating relative stability.

While India faces a number of challenges in raising more of its population out of poverty, one area where it is among the world's leaders is information technology.