MUMBAI, Dec 20 Reuters High prices are the cause for demand slowdown in India, and aligning inflation to the central bank39;s 4 target is key to ensuring sustained economic growth, members of the ratesetting panel said in the minutes of the December meeting.

The policy priority at this critical juncture has to be on restoring the inflation growth balance, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said in the minutes of his last monetary policy committee MPC meeting released on Friday.

Lower inflation will enhance households39; disposable income and increase their purchasing power, and this approach would support consumption and investment demand, Das said.

The RBI kept its key interest rate unchanged earlier in the month, but cut banks39; cash reserve ratio for the first time in over four years, effectively easing monetary conditions as economic growth slowed.

India39;s GDP growth rate fell unexpectedly to 5.4 in the JulySeptember quarter, its slowest pace in seven quarters, while inflation remains well over 4.

The monetary policy stance is open to support growth, but it must await the ebbing of inflation on a durable basis or else the uneven progress made so far in disinflation will get dissipated, deputy governor Michael Patra wrote.

External member Saugata Bhattacharya said both growth and inflation have worsened, and the risk of making a policy error was higher now compared to the October policy.

Four of the six MPC members voted to keep the repo rate…