Jaitley urges RBI to cut benchmark interest rate

Mumbai

INDIA'S Finance Minister Arun Jaitley urged the nation's central bank to cut the benchmark interest rate to help jumpstart the US$2 trillion economy, citing inflation that cooled to the slowest in eight months.

"Inflation is under control, and hopefully the impact of inflation being under control is a fact that the central bank in all its wisdom will take note of," Mr Jaitley told a conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.

This is the second time in less than a week that the finance ministry has pushed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan to add to this year's three interest rate reductions to bolster economic growth. Mr Rajan has maintained that he needs more clarity on whether consumer prices will meet his 6 per cent target for January. India has the fourth …