When Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men had tried to put back Humpty Dumpty together again.

The same seems to be happening with the Indian economy right now. The prime minister's men are now demanding an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to get the economy which is slowing down, up and running again.

Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath on Saturday said that the RBI has room to cut interest rates further as inflation has eased. "I think with inflation close to 3%, RBI will and should look at incisive methods to stimulate the economy, which includes a cut in interest rates," said Nath.

This follows what, Suresh Tendulkar, the chairman of the prime minister's Economic Advisory Council, had said on Friday: "A lower rate regime should basically come into play now. The final call lies with the RBI."

The Gross Domestic Project (GDP) grew by just 5.3% between October and December 2008, against 8.9% the same period previous year.

Meanwhile in New Delhi, RBI governor D Subbarao dodged questions on an interest rate cut before he stepped into a meeting with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. "I am not prepared to answer that question," he said.

Some experts are of the view that the Reserve Bank might cut interest rates early next week. Some banks have started to cut interest rates even before the RBI cut rates.

Mumbai-based Union Bank of India has cut interest rates on new home loans by 25 basis points to 1%. One basis points equals 0.01%

Interest rates on new car loans have also been cut by up to 1.5% with effect from March 1. Delhi-based Punjab National Bank also separately announced cut rates on auto loans by 50 basis points to 10.5%.

Bankers also said that private banks, including ICICI Bank, had told RBI that they will cut interest rates as deposit growth has stabilised.