Retail inflation eases to five-year low in May

India's annual consumer price inflation eased further to 2.18 percent in May, driven down by cooling food prices, government data showed on Monday.

The rise was lower than the 2.60 percent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and was the lowest since India started publishing an economy-wide consumer price index in 2012.

Consumer prices rose 2.99 percent on year in April.

Retail food prices fell 1.05 percent last month from a year ago, compared with a 0.61 percent gain in April.