India's central bank reiterated that it has policy space for further rate cuts, Governor Shaktikanta Das said, without specifying the timing for more easing, Bloomberg News reported.

The Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly held rates steady at 5.15% this month, saying that it had room "for future action" but policymakers felt it right to take a pause after inflation climbed to 4.62% in October, the highest reading in 16 months.

"It's a very clear forward guidance," Das reportedly said at the Times Network India Economic Conclave in Mumbai. "While taking a pause, we very carefully and definitively said there's space for further monetary action, but its timing will have to be decided."

Earlier in December, the central bank slashed its economic growth forecast to 5.0% for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, down from 6.1% previously.

RBI has cut rates by an aggregate of 135 basis points in 2019.