Ram Singh, director and professor at Delhi School of Economics and member of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee, believes that benign inflation and signs of private investment recovery support further easing. However, he tells Kshipra Petkar that global headwinds and external volatility temper the scope for aggressive rate action. Excerpts: You’ve supported a shift to an accommodative stance. What specific growth signals or investment trends would validate a follow-up rate cut? The inflation outlook is benign. Any growth stress would strengthen the case for further rate cuts, ceteris paribus. Private investment is key to growth momentum — several indicators point to a pickup, supported by fiscal measures, accommodative conditions, and transmission of the 100-bps cut. SCBs and NBFCs show robust financials, and non-bank fund flows to corporates have risen. Manufacturing PMI hit a 17.5-year high of 59.3; services PMI reached 62.9, a 15-year high. These are encouraging, but we need more data to be sure on the private capex front. There’s room for further monetary support.