A report released by Oxfam, a charitable organisation found that the richest 1% in India held 73% of the wealth reflecting rising inequality. This shows that Rs.7.3 out of Rs.10 of wealth is held by just 1% Indians.
Last year, in India, the richest 1% hold a huge 58% of the country's total wealth. This was much higher than the global average of about 50%.
Such a rising inequality of income is even more prevalent in developing nations like South Africa (79%), Nigeria (85%) and Mexico (93%) where the country’s richest man earns more in a day than the poorest person earns in 10 years.
In the report titled 'Reward Work, Not Wealth', Oxfam said, "2017 saw an unprecedented increase in the number of billionaires, at a rate of one every two days. Billionaire wealth has risen by an average of 13% a year since 2010 - six times faster than the wages of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just 2%."
Based on Oxfam’s findings, PTI has reported that India added 17 new billionaires last year, taking the total number to 101. The Indian billionaires’ wealth increased to over Rs 20.7 lakh crore – increasing during the last year by Rs 4.89 lakh crore, an amount sufficient to finance 85% of the all states’ budget on health and education.
In India, there are only four women billionaires and three of them inherited family wealth, said the report.
