India's unemployment rate rises to 7.78%, highest in 4 months

New Delhi: India's unemployment rate rose to 7.78 per cent in February, the highest since October 2019 and up from 7.16 per cent in January, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Monday, reflecting the impact of a slowdown in the economy.

India's economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than six years in the last three months of 2019, with analysts predicting further deceleration as the global Coronavirus outbreak stifles growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

In rural areas, the unemployment rate increased to 7.37 per cent in February from 5.97 per cent in the previous month, while in urban areas, it fell to 8.65 per cent from 9.70 per cent, the data released by CMIE, a Mumbai-based private think-tank showed.