Indian consumers are waking up to a costlier staple and costlier stores of value. Amul and Mother Dairy will raise milk prices by ₹2 a litre from May 14, citing higher feed, packaging and fuel costs, even as procurement prices paid to farmers also rise. At the same time, New Delhi has sharply lifted import duties on gold, silver and platinum, signalling a tougher push to curb non-essential imports, protect foreign exchange reserves and ease pressure on the rupee amid global volatility. The move may support the external account, though the trade-off could be renewed smuggling concerns. Elsewhere, politics and markets intersected as Arvind Kejriwal sought to channel student anger over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak into wider protests, while abroad, Washington-Beijing diplomacy took an unusual turn with Marco Rubio set to visit China despite existing sanctions against him.