The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Thursday said the country's inflation is expected to come down from this fiscal's fourth quarter, starting from January next year.
"It (inflation) has come down from its peak, but at 7.50%, inflation is still high. We are expecting that inflation will trend
down starting the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, which is starting from January," RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao told reporters after the bank's board meeting in Kolkata.
Subbarao said the apex bank will consider the growth-inflation trajectory in its mid-quarter review and quarterly review in December and January respectively and then decide on its monetary policy actions.
"As we go into our mid-quarter policy on Dec 18 and the quarterly policy on Jan 29, we will take into account the growth-inflation trajectory and calibrate our monetary policy accordingly," he said.
India's inflation fell to an eight-month low of 7.45% in October.
Conceding that there has been a "steep moderation" in the growth rate of the country's gross domestic product, Subbarao said: "We in the RBI are always trying to manage balance between growth and inflation. Growth has moderated certainly... At the same time inflation is still high."
Asked whether the direct cash transfer scheme slated to start from January in 51 districts across the country would put pressure on headline inflation, he said: "We think that it will not spur inflation."