Top 10% Among Forward Castes Own 60% Wealth, Says Study
6 years ago

Top 10% Among Forward Castes Own 60% Wealth, Says Study

The Quint  

Although India’s upper caste households earned nearly 47 percent more than the national average annual household income, the top 10 percent within these castes owned 60 percent of the wealth within the group in 2012, as per a recent paper by the World Inequality Database. Further, the wealthiest 1 percent among them grew their wealth by nearly 16 percentage points to 29.4 percent over the decade to 2012, the paper, entitled ‘Wealth Inequality, Class and Caste in India, 1961-2012’ and published in November 2018, said. The vast inequality of income and wealth between and within castes highlighted in the paper are significant in the light of the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s new bill to entitle poorer sections among the forward castes to a 10 percent quota in government jobs and higher education institutions, which has been challenged in court. Not only is the wealth and income gap large, it is growing – across all castes, in the 36 years till 2016, the share of wealth held by the top 10 percent has increased 24 percentage points to 55 percent, as IndiaSpend reported on 2 January 2019.

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History of this topic

Budget 2025: How India's wealth shifted to the pockets of top 1%
5 days, 21 hours ago

Budget 2025: How India's wealth shifted to the pockets of top 1%

India Today  

To raise the spending power of the middle class, the Centre in the 2023-24 Budget extended full rebate up to an income of Rs 7 lakh, raising it from Rs 5 lakh under the new tax regime. While 57.7 per cent of income is in the hands of the top 10 per cent of people, 65 per cent of wealth …

‘India must impose more taxes on super-rich’: Economist Thomas Piketty as top 1% hold over 40% of nation’s wealth
1 month ago

‘India must impose more taxes on super-rich’: Economist Thomas Piketty as top 1% hold over 40% of nation’s wealth

Live Mint  

NEW DELHI - India should do more to tax its super-rich given its high levels of inequality, French economist and author Thomas Piketty said on Friday. "India should be active in taxing the rich," Piketty said at an event organised by Delhi-based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries and the Delhi School of Economics. He said India …

Former IAS Anil Swarup publishes flawed analysis comparing GDP per capita with personal wealth, Sucheta Dalal amplifies the same, deletes post after backlash
1 month, 1 week ago

Former IAS Anil Swarup publishes flawed analysis comparing GDP per capita with personal wealth, Sucheta Dalal amplifies the same, deletes post after backlash

Op India  

On the 3rd of December, Anil Swarup, a former IAS officer and Founder Chairman of Nexus of Good wrote a social media post that stirred criticism for its inaccurate depiction of wealth distribution in India. Wealth and income conflation, pointless wealth exclusions, sensationalised wealth inequality and fallacious wealth distribution argument: Anil Swarup’s analysis Anil Swarup’s analysis confused GDP per capita, …

Maharashtra assembly polls a battle of ideologies, between few billionaires and poor: Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai
1 month, 4 weeks ago

Maharashtra assembly polls a battle of ideologies, between few billionaires and poor: Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai

India TV News  

Mumbai: Lok Sabha MP and leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in Mumbai on Monday and said the Maharashtra election is an election of ideologies and an election between 1-2 billionaires and the poor. He added that the billionaires want the land of Mumbai to go into their hands and the estimate is that Rs 1 …

Reading caste in inequality debate
8 months, 1 week ago

Reading caste in inequality debate

Hindustan Times  

By making a caste census the central pitch of its election campaign, the Congress has made this among the most important questions of the 2024 general elections. Survey-based asset data from the National Sample Survey Office’s All India Debt and Investment Survey is from before the pandemic and only gives us data at the broad social group level, namely, Scheduled …

Is today’s India more unequal than under British rule?
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Is today’s India more unequal than under British rule?

Al Jazeera  

India’s top 1 percent holds more income today than it did under the British, new research shows. “So 90 percent of the population is not even making the GDP per capita of India,” Kumar said. Looking back at the BJP’s 2014 poll promises, Bharti said that “what we are actually observing 10 years later in terms of inequality is exactly …

Mint Primer | Redistribution: Can it benefit India’s poor?
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Mint Primer | Redistribution: Can it benefit India’s poor?

Live Mint  

Theoretically, redistribution of wealth is a good way to bring down economic inequality. Bharatiya Janata Party has portrayed this idea as an attempt by the Congress Party to grab people’s wealth and redistribute it, especially to minorities. According to a study published by The World Inequality Lab, richest 1% of Indians now own as much as 40% of the country’s …

Towards a less poor and more equal country
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Towards a less poor and more equal country

The Hindu  

In March, World Inequality Lab, a global research centre focused on inequality and public policies, published a working paper titled, ‘Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj’. It states that “the ‘Billionaire Raj’ headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces.” Inequality undermines both …

Patralekha Chatterjee | Why isn’t rising inequality turning into a poll issue?
9 months, 2 weeks ago

Patralekha Chatterjee | Why isn’t rising inequality turning into a poll issue?

Deccan Chronicle  

The view from the penthouse and the pavement is staggeringly different. By 2022-23, the top one per cent income and wealth shares are at their highest historical levels; India’s top one per cent income share is among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil, and the United States, notes the paper, titled “Income and Wealth …

Inequality rising since 2000s, top one per cent in India holds 40 per cent wealth: study
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Inequality rising since 2000s, top one per cent in India holds 40 per cent wealth: study

The Hindu  

Published : Mar 23, 2024 13:17 IST - 5 MINS READ Inequality in India has skyrocketed since the early 2000s, with the income and wealth share of the top one per cent of the population rising to 22.6 per cent and 40.1 per cent, respectively, in 2022-23, according to a working paper. The paper authored by Thomas Piketty, Lucas Chancel, …

Top 1% Indians’ income share is higher now than under British-rule: Data
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Top 1% Indians’ income share is higher now than under British-rule: Data

The Hindu  

March 23, 2024 08:28 am | Updated 05:23 pm IST In 2022, 22.6% of the national income went to the top 1% of Indians. Chart 2 | The chart shows the year-wise share of national income for the top 10%, the bottom 50% and the middle 40% of the population To start with, in the 1950s and 60s, the income …

Inequality report renews question on growth model
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Inequality report renews question on growth model

New Indian Express  

India’s income and wealth inequality has touched historic peaks, making it one of the world’s most unequal countries, according to the World Inequality Lab’s new working paper. Authored by renowned economists including Nobel laureate Thomas Piketty, the report estimates the richest citizens, or the top 1 percent, own 40.1 percent of the country’s wealth and 22.6 percent of the total …

Mint Primer | Mind the income gap: Is India becoming a plutocracy?
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Mint Primer | Mind the income gap: Is India becoming a plutocracy?

Live Mint  

Income and wealth inequality in India are at a historical peak with the share of the richest 1% higher than in countries like China and Brazil, finds a new study by the World Inequality Lab. Inequality in India declined post-independence till early-1980s, after which it began rising and skyrocketed beginning 2000s, shows the report titled ‘Income and Wealth Inequality in …

Inequality worsening in India with share of top 1% in total income at new high, says new paper co-authored by Piketty
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Inequality worsening in India with share of top 1% in total income at new high, says new paper co-authored by Piketty

Hindustan Times  

The share of the top 1% of Indians in total income and wealth is expected to have reached its highest ever level in 2022-23, according to a working paper published by the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics. The working paper by four economics researchers – Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi – …

A cap on capitalism: Is it time for India to debate one?
9 months, 3 weeks ago

A cap on capitalism: Is it time for India to debate one?

Live Mint  

Growing income disparity in an economy like India, with over 800 million people deemed in need of free food from the government, does not augur well for its developmental ambitions. An income cap could possibly curb excessive wealth accumulation among the ultra-rich and address extreme income disparity. Any drastic measure like the 2016 demonetization to cap income or wealth could …

What should India do to become a wealthy nation by 2047?
11 months, 2 weeks ago

What should India do to become a wealthy nation by 2047?

The Hindu  

In the first session of The Hindu Lit Fest 2024, N. Ravi, Chairman of Kasturi and Sons Limited; Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Sanjay Kaul, development policy analyst and former IAS officer; and T.N. Along with inclusive growth, you also need the development of …

Naysayers Have It Wrong, Incomes in India Are Rising
1 year ago

Naysayers Have It Wrong, Incomes in India Are Rising

News 18  

The state of income in India has suddenly become a topic of raging discussion after former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and economist Rohit Lamba suggested that the country cannot escape the lower-middle income trap by 2047. India’s gross direct tax collections in the ongoing financial year, until November 9, have increased almost 18 per cent to Rs 12.37 lakh crore. …

Bihar survey exposes disparities among OBCs
1 year, 2 months ago

Bihar survey exposes disparities among OBCs

Hindustan Times  

The economic truths revealed by the Bihar caste survey data are more telling than whatever political significance the findings may have. The socio-economic data in the survey suggests that Bihar now needs a larger dose of development, not more of identity-centric politics, which has shaped the state’s governance priorities in the last three decades or so. The state needs to …

India among top countries with high income, wealth inequality: UNDP report
1 year, 2 months ago

India among top countries with high income, wealth inequality: UNDP report

Live Mint  

India has emerged among top countries with high income and wealth inequality but the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15 per cent between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the UNDP said in a new report. Despite these successes, poverty remains persistently concentrated in states that are home to 45 per cent of the country's population …

Number Theory: Unpacking educational disparity among Dalits
1 year, 3 months ago

Number Theory: Unpacking educational disparity among Dalits

Hindustan Times  

Caste-based inequalities in education are well-documented and often regarded as one of the primary reasons for continued socioeconomic disadvantage of the Scheduled Castes. In theory, all subcastes within the SCs hold the right to reservation, and thus, one may argue, the experience at the subcaste level should not deviate much from the average educational outcomes of SCs as a group. …

The rise and rise of white-collar salaried aristocracy in India
1 year, 4 months ago

The rise and rise of white-collar salaried aristocracy in India

Hindustan Times  

There were around 76,000 more so-called crorepatis by income tax returns in 2022-23 when compared to 2021-22. But even more illuminating is the publication of Income Tax Return data – this includes both income tax and corporation tax filings – for assessment year 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 recently. The Indian economy has seen multiple disruptions such as the Global Financial …

Why are India’s poorest people being left behind?
1 year, 11 months ago

Why are India’s poorest people being left behind?

Al Jazeera  

On Tuesday, February 7 at 19:30 GMT: India’s BJP-led government says its final budget before a general election in 2024 will spur economic growth, but opposition politicians are among critics who say it fails to address ever-deepening income and wealth inequality highlighted by anti-poverty groups. But it does not include the re-introduction of a wealth tax on the rich that …

India’s richest 1 per cent own more than 40 per cent of total wealth: Oxfam
1 year, 11 months ago

India’s richest 1 per cent own more than 40 per cent of total wealth: Oxfam

The Hindu  

Published : 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 …

India\'s richest 1% own more than 40% of total wealth: Oxfam
1 year, 11 months ago

India\'s richest 1% own more than 40% of total wealth: Oxfam

Deccan Chronicle  

Davos: 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 Monday. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual …

India's richest 1 per cent own more than 40 per cent of total wealth: Oxfam
1 year, 11 months ago

India's richest 1 per cent own more than 40 per cent of total wealth: Oxfam

Firstpost  

Davos: 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 Monday. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual …

India's richest 1% own more than 40% of total wealth: Oxfam
1 year, 11 months ago

India's richest 1% own more than 40% of total wealth: Oxfam

The Hindu  

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, a new study showed on Monday. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, rights group Oxfam International …

The perils of undoing the framework of reservation
2 years, 1 month ago

The perils of undoing the framework of reservation

The Hindu  

Early last month, the Supreme Court of India upheld the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which had introduced 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections. However, delegitimising caste as a basis for policy is a monumental mistake with real consequences, given the deepening of wealth inequality on caste lines. The latest survey, the All India Debt & Investment Survey released in …

Opposition pounces on Hosabale’s comments on wealth inequality to attack government
2 years, 3 months ago

Opposition pounces on Hosabale’s comments on wealth inequality to attack government

The Hindu  

Latching onto RSS national general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s statement on the state of Indian economy, the Opposition parties attacked the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, blaming it for the increasing wealth gap in the country. Mr. Hosabale while speaking at a webinar organised by the RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch on Sunday had said, “Even when India has managed …

It\'s time BJP wakes up to people\'s woes, says Kumaraswamy
2 years, 3 months ago

It\'s time BJP wakes up to people\'s woes, says Kumaraswamy

Deccan Chronicle  

BENGALURU: Endorsing the views expressed by organising secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Dattareya Hosabale that economic inequality, poverty and unemployment are dangerous for the country, Janata Dal Secular leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said economic inequality in the country is a black dot when the country is celebrating its Amrit Mahotsav of country’s Independence. “People’s frustration …

The relevance of a hypothesis on inequality caused by selfishness
2 years, 7 months ago

The relevance of a hypothesis on inequality caused by selfishness

Live Mint  

Samuel Johnson was emphatic: “Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.” As a normative observation, this is unexceptionable. Support for the selfish rich inequality hypothesis rises with the level of corruption and decreases with an individual’s rank in the country’s income distribution. The study’s final analysis shows …

Number Theory: How rich are India’s richest – and how poor are the rest?
2 years, 9 months ago

Number Theory: How rich are India’s richest – and how poor are the rest?

Hindustan Times  

The scourge of wealth inequality is a global phenomenon. In a recently released working paper “The sky and the stratosphere: concentrated wealth in India during the lost decade”, we studied the changes in the household wealth distribution between 2012 and 2018. Official data suggests that the Gini coefficient of per adult household wealth in India fell from 0.718 in 2012 …

Most Indians want tax on the rich, top firms
2 years, 11 months ago

Most Indians want tax on the rich, top firms

Deccan Chronicle  

Chennai: More than 80 per cent of Indians support a tax on the rich and corporations who earned record profits during the pandemic, a nationwide survey conducted ahead of the Budget by Fight Inequality Alliance India said. The study had said that an annual wealth tax in India would raise $78.3 billion a year with a 2 per cent tax …

Number of Indian billionaires rose to 142 in 2021
2 years, 11 months ago

Number of Indian billionaires rose to 142 in 2021

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: The number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142, while 84 per cent of households in the country suffered a decline in their income in 2021, which was also a year marked by tremendous loss of life and livelihoods, according to non profit Oxfam India's latest report published on Monday. It indicates that the collective wealth of …

The cold truth about India’s income inequality
3 years ago

The cold truth about India’s income inequality

The Hindu  

The latest edition of the World Inequality Report has confirmed that the world continues to sprint down the path of inequality. “Global multimillionaires have captured a disproportionate share of global wealth growth over the past several decades: the top 1% took 38% of all additional wealth accumulated since the mid-1990s, whereas the bottom 50% captured just 2% of it.” India’s …

Global (and Indian) trends in inequality
3 years, 1 month ago

Global (and Indian) trends in inequality

The Hindu  

The story so far: The World Inequality Lab, a research centre at the Paris School of Economics, released the 2022 World Inequality Report on December 7, 2021. The report has found India to be one of the world’s most unequal countries, with the top 1% getting 21.7% of the national income. The report reveals that income inequality in India today …

India Among Most Unequal Nations; Top 1% Hold 22% Of National Income: Inequality Report
3 years, 1 month ago

India Among Most Unequal Nations; Top 1% Hold 22% Of National Income: Inequality Report

ABP News  

New Delhi: India is now among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the findings of the latest report titled 'World Inequality Report 2022'. Stating India's position as a ‘poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite’, the report said the top 1 percent of the population holds more than one-fifth of the total national income in …

India among most unequal nations; top 1% of population holds 22% of national income: report
3 years, 1 month ago

India among most unequal nations; top 1% of population holds 22% of national income: report

The Hindu  

India stands out as a poor and very unequal country, with the top 1% of the population holding more than one-fifth of the total national income in 2021 and the bottom half just 13%, according to a report. The world map of inequalities reveals that national average income levels are poor predictors of inequality — among high-income countries, some are …

Asset ownership data a stark reminder of inequality
3 years, 3 months ago

Asset ownership data a stark reminder of inequality

New Indian Express  

A National Sample Survey report on ownership of assets has revealed that about 10% of Indians own over 50% of the total assets, with the skew greater in urban areas. This government survey falls more or less in line with reports prepared by NGOs and other agencies, which have stressed that while poverty is declining and growth opportunities have increased, …

Happiness Index of India's Rich Falls by 13%, More than 6 Lakh New Middle Class Households Emerge: Report
3 years, 9 months ago

Happiness Index of India's Rich Falls by 13%, More than 6 Lakh New Middle Class Households Emerge: Report

News 18  

The overall happiness index among India’s high net-worth individuals fell to 7.23 points on 10 as compared to 8.5 points in 2019, a Hurun India Wealth Report 2020 released on Tuesday revealed. The report also revealed that 6,33,000 new middle-class households with an average savings of Rs 20-lakh per annum have emerged in the country. There are 16,933 millionaire households …

Indian billionaires increased their wealth by 35% during the lockdown, says Oxfam report
3 years, 11 months ago

Indian billionaires increased their wealth by 35% during the lockdown, says Oxfam report

The Hindu  

Indian billionaires increased their wealth by 35% during the lockdown to ₹ 3 trillion, ranking India after U.S., China, Germany, Russia and France. Out of these, the rise in fortunes for the top 100 billionaires since the lockdown in March is enough to give every one of the 138 million poorest Indian people a cheque for ₹94,045 each, according to …

Explained: How a raging pandemic is widening India's wealth gap
4 years, 3 months ago

Explained: How a raging pandemic is widening India's wealth gap

India Today  

Ever since India gained Independence, the country has traversed a wave of ups and downs to finally become a global powerhouse over the last five years. In India, the wealth gap has been rising sharply during the ongoing pandemic as previous levels of income inequality were already high in the country. A January 2020 study by rights group Oxfam India …

In India, inequality bigger challenge than poverty
5 years, 1 month ago

In India, inequality bigger challenge than poverty

Hindustan Times  

What if India had just 100 people? That’s how skewed wealth distribution is and, by a wide reckoning, the next big challenge for India isn’t poverty reduction, but inequality. Research points to two specific challenges: not only are the rich consolidating a disproportionate amount of wealth and income, but per capita incomes across states — which should converge, by standard …

Oxfam shows a mirror to Indian economy: What is making country's rich-poor divide widen so rapidly?
5 years, 11 months ago

Oxfam shows a mirror to Indian economy: What is making country's rich-poor divide widen so rapidly?

Firstpost  

The income inequality has been increasing for the last one and half decade even more sharply, to be specific since 2004-05 In India, like elsewhere in the globe, the poor have become even poorer in the last year and the rich got even richer, said the latest round of annual study by Oxfam, an international group focusing on data relating …

Indian billionaires' wealth grew daily by Rs 2,200 cr last year: Oxfam
5 years, 11 months ago

Indian billionaires' wealth grew daily by Rs 2,200 cr last year: Oxfam

The Quint  

New Delhi, Jan 21 The fortunes of Indian billionaires grew by an astronomical 35 per cent per day last year, or by Rs 2,200 crore daily, while the poorest 10 per cent of the country have continued to remain in debt since 2004, according to an OXfam report released on Monday. The report "Public Good or Private Wealth", released ahead …

India’s richest 1% get richer by 39% in 2018; just 3% rise for bottom-half: Oxfam
5 years, 11 months ago

India’s richest 1% get richer by 39% in 2018; just 3% rise for bottom-half: Oxfam

The Hindu  

Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by ₹ 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top 1 per cent of the country’s richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population, an Oxfam study said on Monday. Globally, billionaires’ fortunes rose by 12 per cent or …

Indian billionaires' fortunes swell by Rs 2,200 cr a day in 2018, top 1% richest getting richer: Study
5 years, 11 months ago

Indian billionaires' fortunes swell by Rs 2,200 cr a day in 2018, top 1% richest getting richer: Study

Firstpost  

Globally, billionaires’ fortunes rose by 12% or $ 2.5 billion a day in 2018, whereas the poorest half of the world’s population saw their wealth decline by 11% Davos: Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by Rs 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top 1 percent of the country’s richest getting richer by 39 percent as against just …

Excuse of upper caste poverty may not help Modi govt get away with 10% quota if it's legally challenged
6 years ago

Excuse of upper caste poverty may not help Modi govt get away with 10% quota if it's legally challenged

Firstpost  

The Supreme Court has ground to quash the 10 percent quota law it if it is challenged before it as there has been no mention of any inadequate representation of poorer sections of the society. *** By introducing 10 percent reservations for economically weaker sections of the general category, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing what PV Narasimha Rao tried …

10% quota for upper castes: Make govt jobs less cushy, says MIT economist Abhijit Banerjee
6 years ago

10% quota for upper castes: Make govt jobs less cushy, says MIT economist Abhijit Banerjee

Firstpost  

Banerjee said on Wednesday that people prefer government jobs as they are well paid and have no very strong obligation to work. Mumbai: As the poll-bound BJP government is striving to get lawmakers’ nod to get a 10 percent quota for the economically backward upper-castes practically making everyone eligible for reservations, MIT economist Abhijit Banerjee has opined that we badly …

Why Muslims have the first claim on any new ‘backward’ quota
6 years ago

Why Muslims have the first claim on any new ‘backward’ quota

Live Mint  

While announcing its proposal for 10% general category reservation for economically poor upper castes, representatives of the government said that the reservation would apply to all groups not covered by existing quotas, including Muslims and other religious minorities. The average Indian annual household income was ₹ 1.13 lakh as of 2011-12, with scheduled castes and scheduled tribes earning the least, …

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