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India's job engine strains as Iran war hits remittances and trade
The pressures are visible in industrial hubs such as Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.
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Reuters - Fri, 22, May 2026
- 18:24 EDT
- 38
Workers make shoes inside a leather factory of Superhouse Group in Kanpur, India, May 12, 2026. / REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra
The war in the Middle East is squeezing two pillars of Indian employment, forcing Gulf-based workers home and crushing demand for the country's manufactured exports, from leather goods to glassware.
For decades, work in the Middle East and global demand for labour-intensive manufacturing in sectors such as footwear and garments gave a generation of Indians stable, and in some cases lucrative, incomes.
Now, the foreign conflict has dealt a double blow to the economy, with returning migrant workers stuck in India and unable to find similar pay in their home towns, heightening the risk of social unrest as unemployment grows.
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