Rajan warned against waiting to act until inflation expectations become entrenched, but also said the Reserve Bank of India would overlook temporary spikes in inflation.
The finance minister chided the central bank on Tuesday over its focus on fighting inflation, saying the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also needed to abide by the government policy to promote economic growth.
India said on Tuesday it was investigating US policies supporting solar panel makers, the latest move in an escalating row over renewable energy that has worsened already strained ties between the two countries.
At the bank's current market price, the stake on offer is worth about Rs 5,700 crore
In November, wholesale prices, India's main inflation measure, rose 7.52 percent, their fastest pace in 14 months.
Food prices for consumers last month rose 12.16 per cent from a year earlier, slower than November's 14.72 per cent rise.
it was done following the government's approval to increase foreign investment limit in the bank to 62 per cent from 49 per cent.
Policymakers have been grappling with high prices for food staples such as onions and potatoes even after the central bank raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point in each of its previous two reviews.
Iran can now unlock $4.2 billion of payments for its oil stuck with major clients including India, China, Japan and South Korea after it reached an interim deal with six world powers in November over its nuclear programme.
The RBI also asked the oil marketing companies to smoothen their daily dollar demand so that upcoming bunched up demand was covered in advance in forward markets or on days with low dollar demand.
The RBI also asked the oil marketing companies to smoothen their daily dollar demand so that upcoming bunched up demand was covered in advance in forward markets or on days with low dollar demand.
Most immediately, he pledged to move slowly if needed in winding down an oil window that provides dollars directly to state-run oil companies
The future action on rate change will depend on data said the RBI Chief.
The central bank is widely expected to increase the repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 7.75 per cent to fight inflation even as it continues to unwind its rupee defense steps, a Reuters poll showed.
India plans to launch trading of government bond futures within the next two months as part of efforts to deepen its financial markets, according to several sources involved in the discussions with the central bank.
Imports of gold virtually stopped since July 22 after confusion on the new import rules.
Food prices for consumers also eased to an annual 11.06 percent in August from 11.24 per cent in July.
On Tuesday, the partially convertible rupee, the worst performing currency among the major global economies, dropped as much as 3.1 percent to 68.12 per dollar.
India's fiscal deficit during the 2012/13 fiscal year ending March fell to 4.9 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, compared with 5.8 percent a year ago.
Investor confidence has evaporated amid fears over the rising cost of funding India's gaping current account deficit, prompting New Delhi to delay plans to raise much-needed funds through partial privatisations, finance ministry sources said.