In 2014, for instance, the wealth possessed by the top 0.1% of India’s earning population grew at a faster pace compared to that held by 50% of the remaining population, according to the World Inequality Report 2018, released on Dec. 14. “This rising inequality trend is in contrast to the 30 years that followed the country’s independence in 1947, when income inequality was widely reduced and the incomes of the bottom 50% grew at a faster rate than the national average,” the report said.
However, led by privatisation, liberalisation, and disinvestment of the public sector over the years, the scenario has changed dramatically, said the report based on a study by economists Facundo Alvaredo, Thomas Piketty, Lucas Chancel, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. In fact, inequality in India may be at its highest level since 1922 when the country introduced the income tax. [...]
The rise and the rise of a small pool of India’s uber rich population has worsened this divide. The ultra wealthy alone—comprising 1% of the country’s population—controlled about 23% of India’s total wealth in 2014. That’s almost four times the 6% of the riches they controlled in 1982-83. [...]
The following charts are instructive. The first shows the percentage of national wealth controlled by the top 10% of the population in 2016.
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