New Delhi, Feb 01 (AP/UNB) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has announced a cash handout for small farmers, an informal employment pension scheme and tax relief for small traders in an interim budget to prop up popular support ahead of national election due before May.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal laid out the budget in Parliament on Friday as reports said the government was suppressing data that the unemployment rate has hit a 45-year high of 6.1 percent. The government says the data are premature and official figures will be given in March.
Piyush said 6,000 rupees ($85) will go to farmers annually, benefiting as many as 120 million households.
Nearly 100 million workers in informal sectors would get a monthly pension of 3,000 rupees ($40) a month after retirement at 60.