Richest 1% Indians Own More Than 40% Of Country's Wealth: Report The report stated that the top 5% own 61.7% of the total wealth; nearly 20 times more than the 3% owned by the bottom half
By Teena Jose
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A new study on Monday revealed that the richest 1% in India now own more than 40% of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3% of wealth, according to a report by PTI, citing the research report of Oxfam India. Precisely, the report stated that the top 5% own 61.7% of the total wealth; nearly 20 times more than the 3% owned by the bottom half.
Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India's ten-richest at 5% can fetch entire money to bring children back to school. The report is titled 'Survival of the Richest'.
"A one-time tax of 5% on the 10 richest billionaires in the country (INR 1.37 lakh crore) is more than 1.5 times the funds estimated by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry (INR 86,200 crore) and the Ministry of Ayush (INR 3,050 crore) for the year 2022-23," the report added as quoted by PTI.
According to the Oxfam report, if India's billionaires are taxed once at 2% on their entire wealth, it would support the requirement of INR 40,423 crore for the nutrition of malnourished in the country for the next three years.
As per the report, the burden of the tax falls invariably high on the poor. The bottom 50% income group spends a higher percentage of their income on indirect taxes than the middle 40% and the top 10% combined.
Amitabh Behar, chief executive officer (CEO) of Oxfam India, in the report was quoted as saying, "While the country suffers from multiple crises like hunger, unemployment, inflation and health calamities, India's billionaires are doing extremely well for themselves. The poor meanwhile in India are unable to afford even basic necessities to survive. The number of hungry Indians increased to 350 million in 2022 from 190 million in 2018."
