A recent Oxfam India report titled “Survival of the Richest: The India Narrative” revealed that just 5% of Indians own more than 60% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% have only 3%. In 2022, the country’s wealthiest man enjoyed a 46% gain in wealth. India’s top 10 richest individuals have a collective net worth of $335.7billion, a 32.8% rise from 2021. There are currently 166 billionaires in India, up from 102 in 2020.
Despite this startling wealth disparity, the nation is battling numerous challenges including hunger, increasing suicide rates, unemployment, inflation, worsening law and order situation and health crises.
The report also highlighted that by 2022, India has around 350 million hungry people, a growth from 190 million in 2018. This led to 65% of death among children under 5 being attributed to hunger, significantly higher than other countries.
Amidst all this, the wealth of billionaires swells daily by an average of $2.7billion despite the stagnated wages of 1.7 billion workers due to inflation.
