MUMBAI, July 25: India's central bank hinted on Monday that it was preparing to unleash another rate increase at a policy meeting this week, saying it would maintain its anti-inflationary stance.

“High inflation requires continued anti-inflationary bias with a close watch and responsiveness to new developments,” the Reserve Bank of India said in its macroeconomic and monetary review.

The statement reinforced expectations that RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao will raise rates for the 11th time in 17 months when policymakers meet on Tuesday in the financial capital Mumbai.

The bank, among the most hawkish in the Asia region, has been battling to control inflation, which at 9.44 per cent last month was the highest among all major Asian nations.

This is well above RBI's preferred rate of between 5 and 6 per cent.

Industry experts and bankers have called for a pause in rate hikes, amid fears about the slowing pace of economic growth, a slip in foreign investment and lower business confidence.

India's annual industrial output growth has decelerated to 5.6 per cent in May, its weakest pace in nine months, down from 8.5 per cent expansion in the same month a year ago. —AFP