India's 100 richest can fund country's 18-month Union Budget: Oxfam
India is suffering from growing "wealth inequality" as billionaires continue to witness their wealth surge, as per Oxfam International's latest "Survival of the Richest" report. The richest 1% of the population owns over 40% of India's wealth, while the poorest half holds just 3%. The report added that the wealth of India's 100 richest could fund the entire Union Budget for over 18 months.
Why does this story matter?
In India, income inequality widened during the COVID-19 epidemic. The wealth of the world's 10 richest persons doubled since the beginning of the pandemic, Oxfam revealed in January 2022. According to the World Inequality Lab, the wealth of billionaires increased dramatically in 2020. Reportedly, private companies have gotten richer over the last four decades, while governments have become poorer.
Taxing India's richest can fund education, nutrition for starving children
The Oxfam report says taxing India's top 10 richest at 5% could raise enough money to send all children in the country to school. If India's billionaires were taxed just once at 2% on their total assets, it would fund the requirement of Rs. 40,423 crore for the nutrition of the country's malnourished for the next three years, as per "Survival of the Richest."
India's health spending less than 5% tax on 10 richest
A one-off tax of 5% on India's top 10 billionaires (Rs. 1.37 lakh crore) can raise 1.5 times more capital than the combined funds estimated by the Union Health Ministry and AYUSH Ministry for 2022-2023, Oxfam said. A one-time tax on billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani's unrealized gains for 2017-21 could raise Rs. 1.79 lakh crore—enough to employ 50L primary school teachers for a year.
India's 100 richest had $660B in wealth in 2022
The Oxfam report said the wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 121%—or Rs. 3,608 crore/day—since the pandemic broke out till November 2022. In 2022, the total wealth of India's richest 100 reached $660 billion (Rs. 54.12 lakh crore), enough to fund the Union Budget for more than 18 months. Notably, the number of India's billionaires climbed from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022.
What do we know about the report?
The "Survival of the Richest" is a mix of qualitative and quantitative data to analyze the impact of India's wealth inequality, said Oxfam. It said secondary sources like Forbes and Credit Suisse were also used to examine the wealth inequality and billionaire wealth in India, while government sources like National Sample Survey (NSS), Union Budget data, and Parliament documents were used to corroborate arguments.
Cumulative effect of Adani's wealth increase on India's richest
With a three-time increase in his wealth in 2021, Adani's fortune doubled in 2022 to $150 billion, making him India's richest person and, for a short span, the world's second-richest, per Forbes India. The infrastructure tycoon, who owns the country's largest port in Gujarat's Mundra, earlier announced his plans of investing $100 billion over the next decade, aiming 70% of it at green energy.
Mukesh Ambani India's second-richest despite 5% dip in wealth
As per Forbes India's November 2022 report, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, is India's second-richest person. His wealth was pegged at $88bn, which is down 5% from 2021. The oil and telecom giant's conglomerate is a Fortune Global 500 company and is India's most valuable in terms of market value.
