RBI EXPECTED TO BEGIN RATE CUTS IN OCTOBER: CRISIL

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may begin lowering interest rates around October, provided that external factors like weather conditions and international commodity prices do not cause any disruptions, the credit rating agency, Crisil said in its report.

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The credit rating agency further anticipated that it expects "two rate cuts this fiscal." It said that the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision to hold rates in its recent announcement was due to the elevated food inflation. The climate conditions such as weather events are frequently changing and they need to be monitored. Going ahead, it anticipated that the macroeconomic environment would be better, creating a background for a rate cut. “The food challenge to a rate cut is expected to ease as agriculture prospects look better than last year. The monsoon has been above normal (7 per cent above the long period average as of August 7), and sowing has picked up across major foodgrain