The richest 1 percent in India control over 40 percent of the country's total wealth, revealed a new report by Oxfam. Published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the wealth of India's richest 10 men alone stood at $335.7 billion in 2022.

The wealth of India's 100 richest people was $775 billion in 2021 increasing from $313 billion in March 2020. The report also showed that the bottom half of the population controls a mere 3% of the country's wealth.

The report titled "Survival of the Richest: The India Supplement" added that the 10 richest individuals in the country have increased their wealth by nearly 33 percent over the previous year. At the same time, scores of Indian households have seen a reduction in their incomes over rising costs of food, energy and other essential items.

Wealth inequality isn't solely a problem for India. Globally, the richest 1 percent managed to earn 66 percent of the $42 trillion created in new wealth since 2020. “A billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million for every $1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent,” the Oxfam report stated.

How India stacks up compared to Australia, UK, Germany and France?

In Germany, out of all the wealth generated between 2020 and 2021, the richest 1 percent earned 81 percent in total. The 99 percent of the population received only 19 percent of the wealth growth in the year.

In France, billionaires have been one of the biggest winners since the pandemic of 2020. French billionaires have increased their wealth by 58 percent, which was 200 billion euros.

Since 2020, the top 10 richest individuals in France have earned 189 billion euros, a figure equivalent to two years of French gas, electricity and fuel bills.

Bernard Arnault, the richest man on the planet, alone has a wealth equivalent to 20 million French men and women. Now, the French government plans to impose additional burdens on the less wealthy. An upcoming pension reform is expected to push the retirement age to 64 due to a pension deficit. But just a 2 percent tax on French billionaires would be more than enough to make up the deficit.

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In the UK, the situation is just as unequal with the richest 1 percent being wealthier than the lowest 70 percent combined. The richest 685,500 individuals have more wealth than 48 million people in the UK combined.

In Australia, 42 individuals had a wealth of nearly $236 billion in total. The country’s wealthiest 1 percent increased their fortunes by 61 percent since 2020.

India saw its number of billionaires increase from 102 in 2020 to 142 in 2021 and 166 in 2022, even as 22.89 crore people live in poverty. Despite the wealth disparity, the report highlighted how the bottom half of the country pays 6x more on indirect taxation when compared to the top 10 percent, when looking at taxes paid as a percentage of total income.

The group’s report advised to cut down Goods and Services Tax rates on essential commodities. At the same time it advocated increasing wealth tax, inheritance tax and capital gains tax to address income inequality.

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Oxfam’s report also suggested a one-off tax on India's richest. A one-off tax on unrealised gains from 2017–2021 on Gautam Adani alone could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore. That tax income alone could pay for 50 lakh school teachers for a year.

(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)

First Published:Jan 16, 2023 1:13 PM IST