Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has proposed to invest heavily in infrastructure, digital economy and job creation to lift a slugging economy that's burdened with a 45-year-high unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.Unveiling the budget after a major victory in national elections, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday set a target of a $5 trillion economy by 2025 from the present $2.7 trillion.
She told Parliament that in terms of purchasing power parity, India has become the third largest economy in the world after the United States and China, report agencies.
In an interim budget before the April-May national elections, the Modi government already has announced cash handouts for small farmers, a pension scheme for informal workers and a doubling of tax relief for the lower middle class.