India central bank keeps interest rates on hold

Pause reflects desire to ensure inflation remains below target of 6 percent

India's central bank left interest rates unchanged as commercial lenders in Asia's third-largest economy have yet to pass on two previous cuts to customers.

Governor Raghuram Rajan kept the benchmark repurchase rate at 7.50 percent, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement in Mumbai on Tuesday, a move predicted by 33 of 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The rest saw a cut to 7.25 percent.