India Lowers Interest Rates

India lowered interest rates for the first time since April and cut the amount of deposits lenders must set aside as reserves, easing policy to revive growth as inflation cools and the government curbs the budget deficit.

The Reserve Bank of India reduced the repurchase rate to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, it said in Mumbai today, as 30 of 35 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey predicted. Governor Duvvuri Subbarao also cut the cash reserve ratio to 4 percent from 4.25 percent, effective Feb. 9, adding 180 billion rupees ($3.4 billion) into the banking system.

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