China raised its benchmark one-year lending rate to 5.58% at the end of October from 5.31%.

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The RBI cut its key lending rate thrice this year, all by a quarter of a percentage point, and markets were hoping it to further reduce the rate at its next policy meeting.

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According to the World Bank, good monsoon rains this year and a stable local currency could further reduce inflation from current levels, allowing the central bank to further ease monetary policy after cutting its key lending rate twice already this year.

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The government and foreign donors have been lending at a concessional rate of just 3% a year to banks and microfinance institutions, which have been lending on at 6%.

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The prime lending rate went from 14% last year to 8.5%.

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The RBI, worried about inflation and encouraging more imports, has cut its key lending rate by 0.75 percentage point this year, much less aggressively than industry leaders wanted.

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On the first working day of the year, however, the highly influential Bank of England lowered its key lending rate from a century-high 7%.

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The growth rate in China's bank lending has halved over the past year or so, and is now broadly in line with GDP growth.

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The prime lending rate is 2.5% a month, or about 30% a year.

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