India cuts rates in first decision by new panel

Mumbai

INDIA'S new central bank governor, Urjit Patel, has led a united monetary policy panel to lower interest rates at its first review against the majority forecast of private economists.

The benchmark was lowered to 6.25 per cent from 6.5 per cent, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement in Mumbai on Tuesday. That's the lowest since January 2011. The move was predicted by 16 of 39 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with one seeing a cut to 6 per cent and the rest forecasting no change.