In a recent study conducted by the World Inequality Lab, it has been revealed that India’s wealthiest 1 percent now holds the highest concentration of wealth witnessed in over six decades.
The study highlights a stark reality: a small fraction of the population commands a significantly larger portion of the country’s wealth. Moreover, it indicates that the percentage of income controlled by India’s richest individuals exceeds that of nations such as Brazil and the United States.
The surge in billionaires within India, following the liberalization of markets to foreign investment in 1992, has been unprecedented. Termed by the report’s authors as the ‘Billionaire Raj,’ this phenomenon underscores a troubling trend where wealth accumulation has reached levels surpassing those seen even during the British colonial era.
As the year 2023 drew to a close, India found itself grappling with an unsettling reality: its wealthiest citizens had amassed a staggering 40.1 percent of the nation’s total wealth, marking the highest concentration seen since the records stretch back to 1961. Simultaneously, their slice of the income pie stood at 22.6 percent, reaching levels not witnessed since as far back as 1922.
These stark figures, illuminated by a comprehensive study co-authored by prominent economists Nitin Kumar Bharti and Thomas Piketty, among others, serve as a glaring testament to the deepening divide between India’s affluent elite and the broader populace.
Despite the commendable economic growth India experienced, boasting an impressive 8.4 percent expansion in the final quarter of 2023, concerns continue to mount regarding the ever-widening wealth gap.
The World Inequality Lab, responsible for the study, attributes this concerning trend to a multitude of factors. Among them, inadequate access to education and the prevalence of low-paying jobs emerge as primary culprits, stifling income growth among the bottom 50 percent and the middle 40 percent of Indians.
A closer examination of data sourced from Forbes’ billionaire rankings paints a vivid picture of this burgeoning wealth disparity. The number of Indian billionaires has skyrocketed from a mere solitary figure in 1991 to an astounding 162 by 2022. Notable among these ultra-wealthy individuals are titans of industry such as Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, and Gautam Adani, the founder of the Adani Group, both of whom claim the titles of Asia’s wealthiest.
Delving deeper into the study’s findings, one uncovers the staggering wealth amassed by India’s top 10,000 richest individuals. This elite group, comprising a mere fraction of the nation’s adult population of 92 million, boasts an average wealth exceeding a staggering 2200 crore rupees ($271.91 million). To put this into perspective, this figure stands at a mind-boggling 16,763 times higher than the national average. Meanwhile, the average wealth held by the top 1 percent amounts to a substantial 54 million rupees each, underscoring the immense concentration of wealth within this select echelon of society.
In essence, the study’s revelations underscore a sobering reality: while India’s economic fortunes may soar to new heights, the benefits of this prosperity remain conspicuously skewed towards an exclusive minority, exacerbating societal inequities and raising urgent questions about the nation’s commitment to inclusive growth and equitable distribution of wealth.