India’s central bank cut interest rates in the world’s fifth-largest economy on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs kicked in and policymakers warned of “challenging global economic conditions”.
India’s economic growth could slow by 20-40 basis points in the ongoing financial year due to the latest US tariffs, which would prompt deeper interest rate cuts by the central bank, analysts said.
India on Thursday reacted cautiously to US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs with exporters saying the flat 27 percent on exports imposed on fifth-largest economy could have been far worse.
India’s retail inflation fell below 4 percent in February for the first time in six months mainly due to a decline in vegetable prices, giving the central bank room to cut rates further in coming meetings.
Indian exports are facing mounting pressure from aggressive trade policies by partners such as the United States and the European Union, a senior trade ministry official said on Tuesday.
India’s central bank cut interest rates Friday for the first time in nearly five years, as concerns over a growth slowdown in the world’s fifth largest economy outweighed inflation risks.
India’s growth trajectory is expected to pick up in the second half of 2024-25, driven by domestic private consumption and a sustained revival of rural demand, the central bank said in its monthly bulletin released on Tuesday.
Sugarcane yields in India are declining due to last year’s drought and this year’s excessive rains, which could reduce the country’s sugar production below consumption levels for the first time in eight years, farmers and industry officials said on Monday.
The Indian rupee dropped to a record low on Wednesday, weighed by persistent demand for US dollars from importers and speculators ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision.
India is likely to produce a record amount of sugar in the next marketing year from October after millions of farmers expanded cane cultivation, encouraged by ample water supplies and declining prices of competing crops, farmers and industry officials told Reuters.
Even though the Indian economy slowed down to 5.4 percent in the second quarter, it will grow in the range of 6.5 to 7 percent this fiscal, voiced Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday.
Rice inventories in India surged to a record high at the start of December, reaching more than five times the government’s target and potentially boosting overseas shipments from the world’s biggest exporter of the staple food.
India on Monday appointed finance ministry bureaucrat Sanjay Malhotra to helm the country’s central bank, a day before his predecessor’s term was due to end.
India’s central bank left interest rates unchanged Friday after judging inflation risks to outweighed concerns over a growth slowdown in the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Indian police used tear gas and pepper spray on Friday to stop dozens of farmers who were trying to reach Delhi from the northern breadbasket state of Punjab to press a series of demands.
The Indian rupee declined to a lifetime low on Tuesday, pressured by the US dollar’s rally against its major peers and on concerns over the Asian country’s slowing growth rate.
India’s economic growth slowed to 5.4 percent year-on-year in the September quarter, official data showed Friday, a significant decline from the 6.7 percent during the previous quarter.
India’s Adani Group conglomerate said Wednesday it had lost almost $55 billion in a stock market rout since US prosecutors last week accused its founder and other officials of fraud.
