MUMBAI, Oct 23 Reuters India cannot risk another bout of inflation and the monetary policy committee MPC must adopt a cautious approach to lowering interest rates, members of the ratesetting panel said in the minutes of the October meeting.

The MPC, which consists of three Reserve Bank of India RBI and three external members, had kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 for a tenth straight policy meeting while changing the policy stance to 39;neutral39;.

The panel has three new external members, who were appointed for a fouryear term earlier this month.

The arduous battle against inflation is far from won, but we are more confident of eventual success in bringing CPI inflation durably closer to the target, external member Saugata Bhattacharya said in the minutes published on Wednesday.

Michael Patra, RBI deputy governor, wrote that while the persistence of inflationary pressures could dissipate with a less restrictive stance of monetary policy, reducing restraint too quickly may negate the progress made on disinflation.

India39;s retail inflation in September accelerated to its highest in nine months at 5.49, due to higher food prices, data released after the MPC meeting showed. The central bank targets inflation at 4.

Five out of the six MPC members had voted in favour of holding policy rates, while newlyappointed external member Nagesh Kumar voted to cut the policy rate by 25 basis points.

Given that inflationary expectations have been successfully anchored, and…