Growth slowdown challenges India's hawkish central bank

Mumbai

A SURPRISE slowdown in Indian growth along with record-low inflation has thrown the central bank's hawkish monetary-policy bias into question, with some economists suggesting an interest rate cut may be back on the table.

While the government still sees India growing at 7.1 per cent for 2017, a 6.1 per cent expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter undershot economists' expectations by a full percentage point and was the slowest in two years.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) meets on June 6 and 7 to decide on monetary policy.

"The weak GDP print for the Jan-March quarter combined with recent declines in India's CPI inflation rate to just 2.99 per ce…