Modi Flicks Populist Switch as Tight India Election Draws Closer
- Prime minister’s interim budget full of goodies to woo voters
- Battle now expected to shift from financial to ideological
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unleashed a populist election-year budget designed to shore up support ahead of national polls, but it may have come too late to dampen criticism of his government’s inability to create millions of jobs.
The budget on Friday contained $13 billion worth of measures including payouts for farmers, a pension program for informal sector workers and tax relief for India’s squeezed middle class. The policies are designed to compensate for Modi’s slide in support, and come just one day after a report suggesting India’s unemployment rate is at a 45-year high.