Cooling prices give Reserve Bank of India space to slow interest-rate hikes

Das will announce the rate decision through a webcast at 10 am in Mumbai on Wednesday, and will address a press conference at 12 pm.

India’s central bank will probably start slowing the pace of interest-rate increases on Wednesday, signaling it’s near the end of its aggressive tightening cycle.

After 190 basis points of rate increases this year, including three half-point moves, the six-member Monetary Policy Committee led by Governor Shaktikanta Das has more than one reason to switch to smaller increments: inflation is coming off a high and headwinds to economic growth are increasing.

Twenty-nine of 35 economists in a Bloomberg survey predict the benchmark repurchase rate will be raised by 35 basis points, three see a quarter-point move, while one each expect a