India’s official figure for its unemployment rate in June was 5.6%. But that may well be lower than reality—out of 50 economists polled by Reuters, 37 believed that to be inaccurate. Seventeen of them estimated it falls somewhere between 7% and 35%.

That’s all to say Indians want gainful employment—no matter what the job is.

One type of coveted position is public service. For many, being a bureaucrat is an upward path for social and economic mobility.

In the 10 years leading up to FY23, the number of people who applied to take the civil service preliminary exam more than doubled to 1.1 million. Each vacancy had 3X the number of applicants. Meanwhile, there has only been a 40% increase in the number of new college graduates in the same period.

Narendra Modi’s administration has tried to encourage employment in the private sector, but the public’s infatuation for civil service isn’t about to dissipate.

Seetharaman covers the details in this edition of Make India Competitive Again, as narrated by Rahel Philipose.

Read this edition as a newsletter: https://the-ken.com/newsletter/make-india-competitive-again/indias-puzzling-fix-for-the-civil-service-job-obsession/

Subscribe to the Make India Competitive Again newsletter: https://the-ken.com/newsletters/make-india-competitive-again/