RPT-Few takers for inflation-targeting in India -cbank

(Repeats story issued late on Tuesday)

MUMBAI, July 1 (Reuters) - India's central bank governor reiterated there was little consensus for inflation-targeting in India as a way of controlling inflation expectations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aims to bring inflation down to around 5.5 percent in the fiscal year 2008/09. Inflation, as measured by wholesale prices, touched an annual rate of 11.42 percent in mid-June, its highest in more than 13 years.

"It's not that clear that the performance of inflation targeting countries is any better or worse," RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy said in an interview in Switzerland to an online news service.

"I'm not saying that it is not desirable but there's no compulsion. I don't see any political economy consensus that inflation targeting is an effective means of controlling inflation expectations," he told Central Bank News.

The interview was done during the recent Bank for International Settlements annual general meeting.

Inflation targeting has been hotly debated recently but Reddy said in a speech last week, it was difficult to identify a "core" that could be targeted meaningfully because food and fuel, which carry large weights in the consumption basket, were subject to supply shocks. (Writing by Charlotte Cooper; Editing by Harish Nambiar)