The Indian unemployment rate, which has been increasing since hitting a low of 3.4 percent in July 2017, has leveled in the past couple of months. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, it reached 7.2 percent overall (average of rural and urban rates) in January after a high of 8.4 percent in August of 2019.
The Indian government has been accused of trying to sweep negative news about these economic developments under the carpet. In the past year, The Business Standard published a leaked report that put the annual unemployment rate for 2017 at 6.1 percent (using a different metric). In November, another shelved and then leaked report attested that consumer spending was down for the first time in four decades, which was expected to dampen employment prospects further.
More troubling statistics concerning the economy have come out of India lately: The GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019/20 slowed to 5.8 percent causing the country to lose the title of world's fastest growing economy to China. Second and third quarter figures were even lower at 5 percent and 4.5 percent.
