BENGALURU, March 11 (Reuters) - India's benchmark stock indexes slipped on Monday, weighed by a drop in HDFC Bank and Tata group stocks, with investors also cautious ahead of key domestic and U.S. inflation data due on Tuesday.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 slipped 0.17% to 22,456.30 as of 10:08 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex declined 0.22% to 73,959.08.

The broader, more domestically-focussed small-caps lost 0.6%, underperforming the benchmarks, while the mid-caps rose 0.2%.

IIFL Finance, which plans to consider raising of funds on March 13 to shore up capital after the Reserve Bank of India's recent clampdown from offering gold loans, lost 4.2% and was the top small-cap loser.

Small- and mid-caps had underperformed the benchmarks last week on concerns over excessive fund inflows and stretched valuations.

However, they continue to garner robust inflows from domestic mutual fund investors as overall inflows rose to a 23-month high on February, data showed on Friday.

"Regulatory concerns regarding excessive enthusiasm in small- and mid-caps, coupled with recent action on certain non-banking finance companies dampened investor sentiment," said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart.

HDFC Bank fell 1% and was the top loser on the Nifty, also dragging the private bank index by 0.5%.

Citi downgraded the stock to "outperform" from "buy" and slashed target price, citing challenges for deposit growth and net interest margin recovery.

Meanwhile, Tata Group stocks Tata Consumer, Tata Steel and Tata Motors shed between 0.9% and 3%, on reports that Tata Sons' listing appeared improbable in the near term.

India's consumer price inflation is forecast to have edged down to a four-month low in February on moderating food price rises, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The data due after market hours on Tuesday.

Asian share markets sputtered ahead of U.S. inflation data, also due on Tuesday. (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Varun H K)