India’s unemployment rate rises to 7.45% in February from 7.14% in January: CMIE data

India’s unemployment rate rose to 7.45% in February from 7.14% in the previous month, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Wednesday. The jobless rate in urban areas decreased to 7.93 per cent in February from 8.55 per cent the previous month, while in rural areas it rose to 7.23 per cent compared to 6.48 per cent in January. India’s unemployment rate rises to 7.45% in February from 7.14% in January: CMIE data

This comes on the backdrop of third-quarter growth data released by the government on Tuesday. India’s GDP growth rate declined for the second consecutive quarter in October-December (Q3FY23), coming in at 4.4 per cent, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The latest quarterly growth number at 4.4 per cent is lower than the 6.3 per cent growth that was seen in the second quarter of 2022-23.

On Tuesday, the government also released the data for the production of eight core sector growth in January. It showed that production of eight core sector growth expanded at a four-month high of 7.8 per cent in January, which is up from a 7 per cent growth recorded in December.

On Wednesday, news agency Reuters also reported that the manufacturing sector in India expanded at the slowest pace in four months in February but remained relatively strong amid buoyant domestic demand, despite higher inflationary pressures. 

Citing a private survey, the report said that rising borrowing costs and weakness in manufacturing have slowed the Indian economy. The manufacturing sector shrank 1.1 per cent in the quarter year-on-year, the second straight contraction reflecting weakness in exports. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global dipped to 55.3 last month from January’s 55.4.

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