NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday maintaining a balance between growth and inflation was a priority for the new government, and food inflation would be tackled through supply-side measures. "(The central bank) has followed a calibrated approach aimed in the direction of balancing between growth and inflation,"Jaitley said in a Facebook post, adding that such an approach was "a priority for the government".

The Reserve Bank of India earlier on Tuesday kept its key policy rate on hold, hinting it would not raise interest rates further as long as inflationary pressures continued to ease.

The central bank also eased rules to spur bank lending.