Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI had expressed concern that the economy might take longer than expected to recover as they voted to reduce the policy repo rate earlier this month, according to the minutes of the meeting released on Friday.

The six-member interest rate setting body had on October 4 brought down the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent, taking the cumulative cut to 135 basis points this year.

Minutes of the three-day meeting that was released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed members pointing out that despite the accommodative policy and actions taken by the government to turn around the slowing economy, the pain would last for some more time.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said overall, domestic demand has moderated significantly and the weakening of private consumption, which for long has been the bedrock of aggregate demand, is a matter of concern.

He noted that private investment has also lost traction with the corporate sector reluctant to make fresh investments even though capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector has operated close to the long-term average in the recent period.

The RBI governor, however, said there was also a need to be watchful of the fiscal situation though the Centre has said it would meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent for the year.

Michael Debabrata Patra, executive director at the RBI, said the pronounced cyclical downswing indicated that the economy would likely to “get worse before it gets better’’.

Chetan Ghate, professor, Indian Statistical Institute, cited the weakening of economic activity since the previous review, adding that consumption demand grew at 3.1 per cent in the first quarter, the slowest in four years.

On the other hand, investment grew at 4 per cent, marginally higher than 3.6 per cent in the preceding three months.