A few comments from some one who spent an year in UK recently and now back in India.
Daily Newspaper - £ 1 in UK - 2-3 pence in India. Dont expect too many tabloid style newspapers (Midday in BOM is atleast trying!). But international news coverage is good , mostly agency reports.
Cost of a 330 ml can of pepsi/coke - 25 pence
Airconditioned chauffeur driven hire car- (Hyundai Accent or similar) for a day (8 hours)-25-30 £ in India / UK - you know it better.
Long term deals are available at good rates
Self driven cars - avoid- law of the jungle applies especially in some cities like HYD where people have not heard of things like road rules. They are only familiar with road rage!
Local transport - Three wheeler "Bajaj's" gives a bone crunching ride with the added thrill of inhaling diesel/kerosene fumes from the exhaust of buses moving adjacent! However clean, non airconditioned , metered cabs are offered by many companies - typical fare in cities like BLR and HYD will be 2-3 £ for a ride of 10 kms.
Alcohol- Import restrictions have long since eased up. so most of the upmarket supermarkets like Foodworld stock the major brands - prices compare favorably with the west.
Rental for a reasonable upmarket 3 bedroom air-conditioned furnished apartment-600 £ to 800 £ in BOM - about 25% lesser in places like MAA and COK.
Cost of a sit down meal for two in a full service restaurant without beer/wine - 10-15 £ (non hotel restaurants )
TV- No licence fee/ Per month rental for cable TV-having CNN,BBC,Discovery,National Geographic,MTV
and a lot of other English channels - around 10-15 £ a month.
Mobile Phones - CDMA as well as GSM. Biggest CDMA player is Reliance but they do not have international roaming. Charges for both are extremely competitive and compare favorably with the west.
Dont expect standards of cleanliness to be similar to western level, especially with regard to public transport - although things are improving in major cities (BOM is an exception).
Entertainment/R & R options may be lesser in the southern cities but compensated by a lower cost of lving and a cleaner environment to cities like BOM.
Power cuts - scheduled and unscheduled ones occur with regular frequency. Most upmarket complexes have standby generators.
Availability of water can be a major problem in cities like MAA. However your apartment building society takes care of this for an additional fee of 10-20 £ a month.
Visits to the local tourist attractions - you may be charged 5 to 10 times more than the locals but please note that subsidising local nationals is not a policy followed in India alone..........! You dont have to pay more for train or long distance bus travel, but some airlines like Jet or Indian Airlines have a higher US$ fare for foreigners (but generally those with Indian work permits pay the Indian rate).
So things arent too bad! And dont forget the major advantage of being in India opposed to China - most people speak english, esp if you are inthe southern cities.
Cheerio and enjoy your time here if you decide to come over.
Any other questions feel free to PM me.