New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- The surge in memory chip prices is beginning to leave a trail across India's economic data. It first shows up in the country's import bill, where the value of electronic integrated circuits used as memories is rising as much as five times faster than the volume being imported. From there, higher chip prices are making their way through the electronics supply chain, raising costs for manufacturers and, eventually, the prices paid by consumers.

Globally, this phenomenon is known as 'chipflation'. In India, from pen drives to mobile handsets and laptops, the signs of chipflation are becoming harder to miss. For now, however, their contribution to overall inflation remains tiny because of their low weightage in the con...