Patel Seen Seizing Chance to Spur Growth in India Rate Call

A year ago, India had Asia’s fastest growth and inflation. Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi took away most of its money and both indicators slowed, bolstering expectations the central bank will cut borrowing costs for a final time this cycle as pressure mounts for a stimulus.

The Reserve Bank of India’s six-member monetary policy committee will lower the repurchase rate to 6 percent from 6.25 percent, according to 40 of 56 economists in a Bloomberg survey before Wednesday’s announcement. The rest see no change. The reduction would bring the benchmark rate to the lowest since 2010 and mark a U-turn from just six months ago, when Governor Urjit Patel jettisoned an accommodative bias for a neutral policy setting.