The combined total wealth of 63 Indian billionaires is higher than the total Union Budget of India for the fiscal year 2018-19 which was at Rs.24.42 lakh crore, revealed a new report from Oxfam India ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Oxfam’s report, ‘Time to Care’ pointed out that the top 1% of Indians hold more than 4 times the amount of wealth held by 953 million people (or the bottom 70% of the population).
The report attributes rising inequality in income to disparity in taxation between corporates and individuals. “Governments are massively under-taxing the wealthiest individuals and corporations and failing to collect revenues that could help lift the responsibility of care from women and tackle poverty and inequality,” the report said.