MUMBAI: Rise in oil prices may lead to inflationary trends in the country, forcing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike rates by 0.25 per cent in the August policy review, foreign brokerages said on Monday. The apex bank, however, may opt for a status quo in rates at the forthcoming review in June, they said. “We now expect the RBI to embark on an earlier than expected rate hike cycle and expect the first hike in August of 0.25 per cent versus our earlier expectation of hikes to come in the first quarter of 2019,” Australian brokerage Macquarie said. The brokerage attributed the call to a change in “evolving external stability conditions”, asserting that the underlying economic fundamentals are not weak. Japanese brokerage Nomura also said that the RBI may opt for a rate hike of 0.25 per cent each in August and October reviews after leaving the rates unchanged at the June 6 review. “In our base case (55 per cent probability), we expect the RBI to leave the policy rate unchanged, but change its stance from ‘neutral’ to ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ on 6 June, followed by 0.25 per cent rate hike in each of August and October,” it said.