RBI chief says 'determined' to bring down consumer inflation

CHENNAI (Reuters) - Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday the central bank was "determined" to make sure consumer inflation eases down along a "glide path."

An RBI panel in January recommended bringing consumer price index (CPI) inflation down to around 8 percent by the end of January 2015 and to 6 percent by the end of the following year.

"Hopefully by the end of the year we think the economy is on course to come down to a CPI inflation rate of about 8 percent, and by the end of next year to a level of 6 percent, and we are certainly determined to make sure it follows this glide path," Rajan said in a speech in the southern city of Chennai.

Rajan's comments come on the same day that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled his maiden budget, pledging to stick to the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of gross domestic product announced by his predecessor at the interim budget in February.

Rajan added bringing down inflation was the responsibility of both the government and the central bank, echoing previous ones he has made on the topic.

"The right answer to inflation is collaboration between the Reserve Bank and the government, both working on the sides they can effect best," he said.

The central bank governor also noted the RBI would "shortly" issue circulars regarding banks' lending for infrastructure projects.

(Reporting by Sriram Srinivasan; Writing by Rafael Nam; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)