‘Poor bear the impact’: Sugar prices soar in India, souring festive season

Jai Krishan, a 43-year-old labourer from Bihar in northern India, has saved 15,000 rupees ($160) to travel home from Indian-administered Kashmir, where he works, to celebrate Diwali with his family in November.

Each year, he buys boxes of sweets — laddu, barfi and kaju katli — to take home as gifts for his family and friends. He spends about $35 just on sweets for Diwali, he says, as he prepares...