Rupee weakness may push Reserve Bank to tighten monetary policy

The Indian currency lost 3.5% last month and is the worst performer in Asia so far this year

A sustained weakness in the rupee may push the Reserve Bank of India to further tighten monetary policy, perhaps as early as next month, JPMorgan Chase and Co.’s chief India economist Sajjid Chinoy said.

“The RBI meeting becomes an interesting dilemma,” Chinoy told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Monday, adding that after two interest rate hikes since June, he, like most in the market, thought the central bank had bought time before the next increase. At the same time, inflation is easing, with headline numbers for August likely to show that the consumer price index rose by less than 4