Arun Jaitley hopes interest rates will ease if inflation cools

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said he hoped interest rates would be reduced should inflation ease, days after data showed consumer prices easing to their lowest since figures were first published in January 2012.

Jaitley did not give specifics on the level of inflation.

"Interest rates have gone up. Hopefully, if inflation moderates, they will come down," the minister told Parliament on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India uses retail prices as its main inflation gauge while setting its monetary policy. It will next review rates on August 5.

Data on Monday showed consumer prices-led inflation eased to 7.31 per cent in June, helped by a slowdown in food inflation and a favourable statistical base.

The central bank is not statutorily independent from the finance ministry, but its bureaucrats prize autonomy.

(Reuters)