Most external members suggested rate cut in India cbank's Sept review

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A majority of the external members in the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee suggested the repo rate be cut by at least 25 basis points at the review on Sept. 30, according to minutes released by the central bank on Wednesday.

However, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged because of concerns about upside risks to consumer inflation.

RBI's monetary policy committee - including the RBI Governor, all four deputy governors and seven external members - met on Sept. 24. External members work strictly in an advisory role.

The views of RBI governor and deputy governors at the meeting are traditionally not made public.

According to the minutes, three out of the seven external members proposed a 25 bps rate cut and one member proposed a 50 bps rate cut.

Of the three members who proposed no rate cuts, one suggested a 100 basis point cut in the statutory liquidity ratio holdings for bonds.

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam)