NEW DELHI: The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest has touched Rs 54.12 lakh crore. The wealth of the top 10 richest stands at Rs 27.52 lakh crore, a 32.8 per cent rise from 2021, according to Oxfam’s latest report titled “Survival of the Richest: The India Story”.
The report says that inequality in India continues to rise with the top 1% of the population holding 40.6% of the total wealth of India in 2021 and the bottom 50% collectively holding just 3% of the total wealth,
The Oxfam report says that the inequality in wealth distribution has only been accentuated by the pandemic.
“Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50% of the population has continued to see its wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13% of the national income and less than 3% of the total wealth. Its impact has been exceptionally poor diets, increase in debt and deaths,” says the report released late Sunday night.
According to the report, the top 10% own more than 80% of the wealth. The wealthiest 10% owns more than 72%, the top 5% owns nearly 62%, and the top 1% owns nearly 40.6% of the total wealth in India.
The report points to the irony that while the country still has the world’s highest number of poor at 228.9 million, the total number of billionaires in India increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 billionaires in 2022.