May inflation eases to 4.7 per cent, better than estimates

The headline inflation slowed for a fourth straight month in May to 4.7 per cent from a year earlier, but a slump in the rupee is likely to prevent the Resrve Bank of India (RBI) from lowering policy rates on Monday despite the economy slowing to a decade-low level.

May's reading, the lowest in more than three years, was less than the 4.87 per cent estimated by analysts in a Reuters poll. The wholesale price index, India's main inflation measure, rose an annual 4.89 per cent in April.

The reading for March was revised to 5.65 per cent from 5.96 per cent, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday showed.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2013