Indian finance ministry said that the government wants a rate cut sooner than that, putting a focus on the MPC meeting on Dec. 5-6, or when it next convenes in February.
“We expect the RBI to cut policy rates, if not in December then in its next policy review,” an official said.
He told Reuters on condition of anonymity that higher oil prices could fuel inflation, making it more difficult to cut rates.
Impatient for faster economic growth, the government is lobbying for a reduction in official interest rates in coming months as it expects inflation to stay close to a 4.0 per cent target, finance ministry officials added.
At its last meeting in October, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the repo rate at 6.0 per cent, near a seven-year low, and a Reuters poll found that economists expected the rate to stay there through to the second quarter of next year.
At its Oct. 4 meeting, the MPC voted 5-1 to keep rates unchanged, and minutes released on Oct. 18 showed RBI Governor Urjit Patel flagging risks to the inflation outlook, and the need for more evidence to show whether headwinds holding back economic growth were “transient or sustained”.
On Thursday, India will release GDP data for the July-September quarter, having seen economic growth slow to a three year low of 5.7 per cent in the previous three months.
The weak growth means 3-1/2 years into his 5-year term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is falling a long way short of his promise of a dynamic economy to create jobs for the millions of young Indians joining the labour force each year.
His government can’t afford to boost public investment without endangering the commitment to fiscal consolidation that helped persuade Moody’s Investors Service this month to award India its first sovereign credit rating upgrade in nearly 14 years.
That leaves most of the pressure on the RBI to loosen monetary policy in order to revive currently anaemic private investment.
A finance ministry spokesman declined to comment on its discussions with the RBI. The central bank also did not comment.