India December Consumer Price Inflation at 17-Month High

India's retail inflation in December accelerated to the highest in more than an year driven by quicker rises in the prices of food and housing, government data showed Friday.

The benchmark consumer-price index rose 5.21% from a year earlier, the highest since July 2016 and significantly higher than November's 4.88% increase.

Food prices climbed 4.96% from a year earlier, accelerating from a 4.35% rise in November while housing prices rose 8.25%, quicker than November's 7.36% increase.

The data would strengthen expectations that the Reserve Bank of India doesn't have room to cut rates anymore and talk may soon shift to how soon it could start raising them.

Write to Anant Vijay Kala at anant.kala@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2018 07:31 ET (12:31 GMT)