More growth pain ahead as Indians tighten purse strings amid slowdown

The RBI has lowered interest rates to a nine-year low, but that impact is yet to be felt due to tardy monetary policy transmission and subdued demand for loans

Indians are cutting back on spending from hair oils to motorcycles in a fresh sign that the slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy is becoming more entrenched.

That is likely to add pressure on policymakers to ease both fiscal and monetary policy in the coming months at a time when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tours the country to meet various stakeholders and lobby groups. The Reserve Bank of India has lowered interest rates to a nine-year low, but that impact is yet to be felt due to tardy monetary policy transmission and subdued demand for loans.

On Friday, Hero MotoCorp Ltd., the country’s