new delhi, May 11 -- India's goods and equipment manufacturing industry, largely concentrated in Punjab's Jalandhar and Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, is facing mounting cost pressures as the US-Iran war pushes up prices of petrochemical-based raw materials. Manufacturers, suppliers, and experts say prices of key raw materials, including polyester used in sports apparel, plastics and composites used in lightweight rackets, helmets, and hockey sticks, and rubber used in shoes, balls, and other inflatables, have increased sharply. The price of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), a polymer, has increased to as high as Rs.160 per kilogramme now from Rs.96-100 per kg before the war, said Ravinder Dhir, chairman of the Khel Udyog Sangh Punjab, a group rep...