Jan 29 (Reuters) - Restaurant Brands Asia, the

India franchisee of Burger King, reported a wider third-quarter

loss on Wednesday, weighed by high costs and inflation-hit

customers cutting back on dining out.

The company reported a net loss of 504 million rupees ($5.82

million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, from a loss of

361.8 million rupees a year earlier.

Same-store sales at Indian Burger King restaurants slipped

0.5%, with the restaurant operator blaming "flat demand."

Global fast-food chains, including Burger King and

McDonald's, have been doubling down on cheaper options over the

last few quarters to attract India's price-sensitive customers

amid high inflation.

Burger King offered some of the cheapest deals in the

industry in the country, including a bundle of two vegetarian

burgers at 79 rupees and of two chicken burgers at 99 rupees.

This, along with opening more outlets, propped up the

company's revenue by 5.8% to 6.39 billion rupees.

Its total store count in India stood at 510, up 69 from last

year and 46 from the previous quarter.

However, the company was also affected by high prices of

ingredients, which led to an 8.5% increase in total expenses to

7.03 billion rupees.

Cafe chain Tata Starbucks and pizza group Papa John's

International, meanwhile, have said they are rethinking

their India plans amid subdued consumer sentiment.

Earlier in the day, Restaurant Brands Asia's rival Westlife

Foodworld, the operator of McDonald's in

India, reported a 59% drop in quarterly profit.

Restaurant Brands International, which has Burger

King restaurants in more than 100 countries, will report

quarterly results on Feb. 12, according to its website.

($1 = 86.5340 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Hritam

Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)