India has frozen inflation-linked increases in salaries and pensions for more than 11 million federal employees and pensioners to generate nearly $10 billion to help combat the coronavirus outbreak, officials said.
Last month, the government announced a 4 per cent rise in allowances for employees and pensioners with effect from January, estimated to have cost 271 billion rupees ($3.56 billion) in the current financial year beginning April. That rise will not now go ahead.
Reuters quoted a finance ministry official as saying: "The total savings could be more than 700 billion rupees ($9.19bn) from an 18-month freeze."
