Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on Monday that proactive economic policies of the government have been able to reduce unemployment rate from 6% to 3.2% during the last six years, with inflation also decreasing to a six-year low at the same time.
In a written response to a parliamentary question, Sitharaman listed a series of measures to contain inflation, enhance steady employment and raise the household income — especially of the underprivileged section and youths.
Among the major interventions were the support to buffer stocks of important food items, offloading state-held grain inventories in the open market at an appropriate time, ease of import, imposing short-term export bans during shortages, regulating stockholding to improve supply, and retailing selected foods under the Bharat brand at subsidized prices. Of particular note, she indicated that food grains were given out for free to as many as 81 crore recipients under the National Food Security Act.
Also noted by the minister was that the government had increased personal disposable incomes by exempting income up to ₹12 lakh (or ₹12.75 lakh for salaried persons on account of standard deduction) from income tax.
Due to these measures, retail inflation — measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — reduced from 5.4% during 2023–24 to 4.6% during 2024–25, the lowest yearly average rate of inflation in six years, Sitharaman clarified.
She also mentioned that during the first quarter of 2025–26, CPI inflation fell to 2.7% average, closing June 2025 at only 2.1%. Food inflation also fell sharply, going into negative at (-)1.06% in June 2025 — its lowest since January 2019.
On the job front, Sitharaman said that the government has initiated several schemes to promote job generation and skill development. These are the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana, sector-specific Employment-Linked Incentives, the National Urban and Rural Livelihood Missions, MGNREGA, and several Kaushal Vikas Yojanas.
She also noted the launch of the 'Rural Prosperity and Resilience' initiative in the 2025–26 Union Budget, aimed to cut underemployment in the agricultural sector by empowering women, youth, and marginal farmers through specific skilling, investment, and technological assistance.
Overall effect of these efforts, Sitharaman summed up that the overall employment rate in the country among people aged 15 and more, according to the usual status, declined from 6% during 2017–18 to 3.2% during 2023–24.
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