Field notes from New Delhi Iran energy shocks give rise to urban-to-rural migration in India Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments - Rising energy prices due to the Iran conflict are disrupting India's energy supplies, causing some migrant workers to return home. - Surat's industries, particularly textile, are suffering losses. The industry may be losing "up to 10 million rupees" daily, with 30% of workers leaving. - Rural economies face strain from returning migrants and fertiliser shortages, potentially impacting India's consumption and global food production. AI generated NEW DELHI – The first sign of trouble for migrant worker Sadlu, 21, was in the makeshift kitchen in a tiny room he shared with six other migrants in Surat city in western Gujarat state. The supply of cooking gas became erratic in mid-March, with prices increasing fourfold at one point, as a distant war in Iran disrupted India’s energy supplies from the Persian Gulf, affecting Indian homes like his. Then rumours of a lockdown due to low energy supplies started circulating on the floor of the textile processing plant where he worked. Alarmed by the uncertainty, his mother insisted that he and his brother, who was also in the same industry, immediately return to their home town in Prayagraj district in Uttar Pradesh state, some 1,400km away. On March 27, Mr Sadlu, who goes by only one name, followed in the wake of his brother, who had left a day earlier, packing his meagre belongings, even though it meant losing about 500 rupees (S$6.90) in daily wages. “My mother insisted I should come home. And also, I was wondering how I would buy gas at such a high price. I didn’t want to come back to the village,” he said over the phone from his village in Uttar Pradesh.