In 2010, the links between the financial markets and agricultural trade flows have become both stronger and more visible. This has happened through (a) the growth of agricultural commodity markets, and (b) the expansion in size and reach of powerful transnational and national food conglomerates, which are investing heavily in deep forward and backward integration of the crop, food trade, storage, processing and retail businesses. These are the conditions that India faces, and which provide the background to steady inflation in our staple food baskets.