Nomura lowered India's inflation forecast to 3.3% in FY26 from 3.9% earlier and said cooling inflation will create more space for monetary policy easing. A strong winter crop harvest, decline in pulse prices due to higher supply, lower agricultural input costs and potentially favourable monsoons should lower food inflation, it said. Meanwhile, a negative output gap, lower manufacturing input costs and moderating wage growth are likely to keep core inflation capped, it added. The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee (MPC) announced a 50-basis points policy rate cut to 5.5% on Friday.