India’s richest 1 per cent own more than 40 per cent of total wealth: Oxfam
The HinduPublished : Jan 16, 2023 15:59 IST The richest one per cent in India now own more than 40 per cent of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of wealth, a new study showed on January 16. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India’s ten-richest at 5 per cent can fetch entire money to bring children back to school. Surge in wealth of billionaires Since the pandemic began to November 2022, billionaires in India have seen their wealth surge by 121 per cent, or Rs 3,608 crore, per day in real terms, Oxfam said. Windfall tax on food companies As the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting gets underway, Oxfam International said food companies making big profits as inflation has surged should face windfall taxes to help cut global inequality. Over the past two years, the world’s super-rich 1 per cent have gained nearly twice as much wealth as the remaining 99 per cent combined, Oxfam said.