India’s inflation has dropped to near record lows, and economists say the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) now has room to ease rates further to support growth in Samvat 2082.

Kaushik Das, Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank, said inflation could fall close to zero this month, adding, “There’s an outside chance that you can get an even negative year-on-year number if food prices remain weak in October.” He expects full-year inflation to stay near 2%, well below the RBI’s target. “They should not delay it any further,” Das said. “They should do a 25 basis points rate cut.”

Das noted that with inflation averaging around 4% next year, the policy rate of 5.25% would still provide “about 125 basis points of positive real rates.” He added that nominal GDP growth, not just real GDP, should be closely w

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