How Big Is India's New Jobs Plan?

Together with its annual budget for the current fiscal year, the Indian government around Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a job creation scheme Tuesday that is scheduled to invest 2 lakh crore rupees ($24 billion) in the coming five years. Spending will focus on subsidies for job entrants - for which 10000 crore rupees (around $1.2 billion) were already earmarked this year - as well as aid for employers and employees in the manufacturing sector. Also new in this year's budget are an internship program at major Indian companies worth 2000 crore ($239 million) and the upgrading of Industrial Training Institutes costing 1000 crore ($119 million).

How big are these investments compared to other major schemes in the budget? While they are not the biggest, they are substantial. If carried out according to plan, the new jobs scheme should receive 40000 crore ($4.8 billion) every year on average (not counting internships and ITI upgrades). The biggest scheme currently mentioned in the Indian budget is the pandemic-era PMGKAY food subsidy program using more than 2 lakh crore ($24.5 billion) in one year alone. Next are two roadwork schemes, the urea fertilizer subsidy and the rural employment guarantee that run between 0.9 and 1.7 lakh crore ($10-$20 billion) in the current fiscal year. The National Rural Drinking Water Mission's annual budget is still nearly twice as big as the new jobs scheme at around 70000 crore ($8.4 billion). Apart from these six, there are 28 more schemes out of the 140 listed in the budget that are bigger than even the 10000 crore rupees/$1.2 billion payment subsidy for job entrants on its own. Looking at all three new job creation schemes combined, there are a total of 11 out of 140 schemes that are bigger.