The main causes for unemployment in India are as follows:

1. Population explosion: Rapid population growth is the leading factor responsible for unemployment in India. This has adversely affected the unemployment situation in two ways. Firstly, the growth of population has directly encouraged unemployment by making a large addition to the existing labour force. Secondly, the rate of job expansion could never be as high as the population growth would have required.

2. Season agricultural and backwardness of agricultural: In rural economy, agriculture is the main source of employment. However, most of the rural people are engaged directly and indirectly in agricultural operations. But, agriculture in India is basically a seasonal occupation. It provides employment only for certain months i.e., only during rainy days. During the rest of the period in a year, people would become unemployed.

3. Illiteracy and ignorance: Many people are illiterates and unskilled. They are not trained in accordance with the employment being generated. There is miss-match between the education industry and employment industry.

4. Slow growth: The growth of Indian economy is not at the expected level. The growth of GDP is still less than 7%. That means income which is being contributed to the national income generated through creation of employment opportunities is insufficient.

5. Lack of initiatives from government: In India, the government is inactive in creation of jobs. Rather, the government is indulging in disinvestment and closing Public Sector Industries due to industrial sickness. This is aggravating the problem of unemployment.

6. Low investment: There is a decline in the rate of investment due to lack of supportive atmosphere both in private and public sectors. This has slowed down the creation of new employment opportunities in India.

7. Orthodox nature of population: In India, majority of people are traditional and very orthodox and believe in blind beliefs. Many will be sticking on to some age old occupation even many though it has lost scope in the modem word. This has made them voluntarily unemployed.