The unemployment rate in India was at 7.2 percent in February 2019, the highest since September 2016, according to data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) that was released on Tuesday, 5 March, Reuters reported. The rate was at 5.9 percent in February 2018.

The survey is based on tens of thousands of households across India.

Mahesh Vyas, head of the think tank told Reuters that unemployment rate has risen despite a fall in the number of job seekers. He also said that the number of employed persons in India was estimated at 400 million in February compared with 406 million last year.