BENGALURU, March 7 (Reuters) - India's blue-chip indexes hit fresh record highs at the open on Thursday, tracking a rally in Asian peers after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell assured likely rate cuts this year and ruled out near-term risks of economic recession.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.14% to 22,505.30 as of 9:15 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex gained 0.21% to 74,242.74. (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sohini Goswami )