India’s unemployment rate rise to 7.78% in February, the highest since October 2019, and up from 7.16% in January, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Monday, reflecting the impact of a slowdown in the economy.

India’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than six years in the last three months of 2019, with analysts predicting further deceleration as the global coronavirus outbreak stifles growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.

In rural areas, the unemployment rate increased to 7.37% in February from 5.97% in the previous month, while in urban areas, it fell to 8.65% from 9.70%, the data released by CMIE, a Mumbai-based private think-tank showed.