A new study on Monday showed that the richest 1% in India now own more than 40% of the country’s total wealth, while the bottle half of the population together share just 3% of the wealth, according to the news agency PTI.
The rights group Oxfam International released the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here. It said that” taxing India’s ten richest at 5% can fetch entire money to bring children back to school.”
The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest persons reached Rs 54.12 lakh crore in 2022, Oxfam said in its report titled “Survival of the Richest: The India Supplement”. The total wealth of the 10 richest Indian stood at Rs 27.52 lakh crore in 2022, a 32.8% rise from 2021.
According to the Oxfam report, if India’s billionaires are taxed once at 2% of their entire wealth, it would support the requirement of ₹40,423 crores for the nutrition of malnourished in the country for the next three years.
“A one-time tax of 5% on the 10 richest billionaires in the country (₹1.37 lakh crore) is more than 1.5 times the funds estimated by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry (₹86,200 crores) and the Ministry of Ayush (₹3,050 crores) for the year 2022-23,” it added.
Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said, “The country’s marginalised – Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, Women and informal sector workers are continuing to suffer in a system which ensures the survival of the richest.
Meanwhile, Mr Behar urged the Union finance minister to implement progressive tax measures such as wealth tax and inheritance tax, which he said have been historically proven to be effective in tackling inequality.
