Retail inflation picks up to 5.61% in Dec

India's annual consumer price inflation edged up for the fifth straight month in December to 5.61 per cent on rising food prices, from a year ago period, government data showed on Tuesday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had predicted retail inflation would accelerate to 5.6 per cent in December compared with 5.41 per cent in November.

Retail food inflation in December came in at 6.40 per cent, higher than 6.07 per cent recorded in the previous month.

Image: A vegetable vendor in Kolkata. Photograph: Dipak Chakraborty/Rediff.com