Is There A Billionaire Raj In India? Truth Vs Hype

Recent debates on income and wealth inequality in India have gained momentum, spurred by the release of “Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj,” which reveals record-high economic disparities. According to a report by the World Inequality Lab, India's growing inequality could be addressed through a comprehensive and progressive wealth tax package targeting the ultra-rich. The follow-up report, authored by economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, shows that the wealth share of India’s richest 1% is at its highest in history. The proposed tax package aims to address this massive wealth concentration and create fiscal space for critical social sector investments. An annual wealth tax and inheritance tax on net wealth exceeding INR 10 crores (approximately EUR 3.4 million PPP or EUR 1.2 million MER), targeting the top 0.04% of the adult population (~370,000 adults), who hold over a quarter of the total wealth. The tax would raise substantial revenues, affecting only 0.04% of the population. A 2% annual tax on wealth exceeding INR 10 crores and a 33% inheritance tax on estates over INR 10 crores could generate 2.73% of GDP in revenue. These measures must be accompanied by explicit redistributive policies to support the poor, lower castes, and middle classes. For example, this revenue could nearly double public spending on education, which has stagnated at 2.9% of GDP over the past 15 years, far below the 6% target set by the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020). Can a Wealth Tax Reduce Inequality? watch BTTV Managing Editor Siddharth Zarabi in conversation with Nitin Kumar Bharti, Coordinator for South and South East Asia, World Inequality Lab and Professor Gourav Vallabh from the BJP.