Inflation, external pressure priority over growth: Finance ministry

The MPC also cut its FY23 GDP growth forecast to 7 per cent from 7.2 per cent, with Governor Shaktikanta Das acknowledging that there were downside risks to economic growth

When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in early September that not all tools to fight inflation were under the remit of monetary policy and that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might not need to synchronise its monetary policy actions to western central banks as much, many took it as a sign of the minister hinting that growth should be prioritised.

But, as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points on Friday, taking the total benchmark interest rate hikes this year to 190 bps, officials in North Block said they were in lockstep with