In Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj, Piketty and his co-authors estimate that inequality in India today is far worse than during the inter-war British colonial rule. In 2022, the top 1% of the Indian population owned 40.1% of total wealth and earned 22.6% of total income, while the bottom 50% owned 6.4% of total wealth and earned 15% of total income. First, income and wealth inequality in India began to rise sharply only from the 1980s when India gradually began to adopt markets. Wealth inequality is inevitableTrends in wealth inequality also paint a similar picture. Impact of a wealth taxA wealth tax, on the other hand, will have unintended consequences.

Source: The Hindu May 02, 2024 07:14 UTC