New Delhi: Underlining the importance of conducive labour laws in the creation of employment, a group of young entrepreneurs told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “greater flexibility is needed in labour laws as well as safe infrastructure to enable job creation.”

Mr Modi on Thursday interacted with a group of 200 entrepreneurs, who as a community form the core for the creation of employment in the wake of slow job creation in India.

According to labour bureau figures, which were released last year, unemployment rate in India had shot up to a five-year high of five per cent in 2015-16.

Unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent in 2013-14, 4.7 per cent in 2012-13, 3.8 per cent during 2011-12 and 9.3 per cent in 2009-10.The labour bureau had not released any such report for 2014-15.

In 2015-16, the unemployment rate in the country was at a five-year high of five per cent. This could be potentially disastrous for the Modi government, which had the development and job creation its key election planks during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

During the interaction, organised by the Niti Aayog, six groups of entrepreneurs made presentations before Mr Modi on themes such as ‘Soft Power: Incredible India 2.0’; ‘Education and Skill Development’; ‘Health and Nutrition’; ‘Energizing a sustainable tomorrow’; and ‘Digital India; New India by 2022’.

They informed Mr Modi that in order to harness India's enormous demographic dividend, ITIs need to be re-energised through public private partnership (PPP).

The entrepreneurs also underlined the need to develop digital infrastructure for creating upto 10 crore new jobs through connectivity, accessibility and data usage.

Later, Mr Modi said that the government is initiating steps to uproot corruption which had become institutionalised, and promised more measures to ease the common man’s problems in the coming days.

“It is unfortunate that corruption had become institutionalised. Till you make a counter institutional arrangement, you cannot stop it,” he said.

He said as the middlemen are out of work now, they are the ones who are shouting the most about unemployment.

Mr Modi, who met the entrepreneurs twice in as may days, said only governments initiatives will not make a New India. “Change will be powered by each and every citizen of India,” he stressed.