NEW DELHI - India's annual retail inflation eased to 4.7% in April from 5.66% the previous month, government data showed on Friday.

A Reuters poll of 53 economists had forecast a rate of 4.80%.

Last month, India's central bank surprised markets by holding its key repo rate steady after six consecutive hikes to tamp down inflationary pressures. Many economists expect it to remain on pause mode for the rest of the year to support the recovery in Asia's third-largest economy.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Nikunj Ohri; editing by John Stonestreet)