NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's retail inflation rate accelerated to a four-month high of 4.87 percent in May, government data showed on Tuesday, driven by higher fuel prices and a depreciating rupee.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast May's annual increase in the consumer price index at 4.83 percent, compared with April's provisional 4.58 percent. The forecasts for May ranged from 4.1 percent to 5.7 percent.
May was the seventh straight month in which inflation was higher than the central bank's medium-term target of 4 percent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2014, by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, citing inflation concerns.
The RBI revised up its inflation forecast to 4.7 percent for the second half of the fiscal year ending in March 2019, from the 4.4 percent it projected earlier.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Malini Menon)
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