India’s central bank surprised markets with a jumbo rate cut, seizing on cooling inflation to frontload monetary easing and bolster economic growth amid heightened global uncertainty.

Indian stocks rallied on Friday after the central bank delivered a bigger-than-expected interest rate cut, as it front-loaded policy easing to support domestic growth in the "fragile and highly fluid" global backdrop.

India's central bank has lowered interest rates by a deeper-than-expected half a percent - the third cut in a row amid falling inflation and lower growth in Asia's third largest economy. The repo rate now stands at 5.