A study by the Azim Premji University has found that the one year of Covid-19 pandemic has pushed 230 million people into poverty with a 15 per cent increase in poverty rate in rural India and a 20 per cent surge in urban India,” Former RBI Governor D Subbarao said citing the findings of a study.

“Add to that CMIE data showing that the unemployment rate has gone up as high as 12 per cent in May, 10 million jobs have been lost just on account of the second wave and 97 per cent of the households in the country have experienced declines in incomes,” he added.