The RBI said on its website www.rbi.org.in that Subbarao met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday night and briefed him on the economic situation.

"The governor briefed the finance minister on the evolution of the global financial crisis, the outlook for global economy and the response of advanced and the emerging economies to the crisis," based on his meetings with central bank governors in Basel last month and Kuala Lumpur in February, the RBI said.

Inflation fell to its lowest in more than 13 months in early February, dropping below 4 per cent, which analysts said made it more likely the central bank would cut rates to support faltering growth.

In Tokyo last week, Subbarao said there was room to cut rates, but the question was when and by how much.

After a series of cuts since October, the bank's key lending rate, the repo, stands at 5.5 per cent, while the reverse repo is at 4.0 per cent.