DHAKA: Indian manufacturing growth eased in April as domestic demand softened, despite factories cutting prices for the first time in nearly two years.

A business survey showed on Monday, reports The Straits Times.

Falling inflation and a slowing manufacturing industry would reinforce expectations that the Reserve Bank of India will again cut interest rates soon from the current 7.5 percent.

‘The data supports a rate cut they will continue cutting rates but slowly, perhaps waiting until the upcoming meeting,’ said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at Markit.

The RBI has already cut rates twice this year. Both times it surprised markets by announcing the cuts a few days prior to its scheduled policy reviews and there is a 60 percent chance it will move ahead of the next one on June 2, a media poll found last week.

The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index , compiled by Markit, fell to 51.3 in April from March’s 52.1 but marked its eighteenth month above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

BDST: 1253 HRS, MAY 04, 2015
RR