India’s wealthiest 1% hold highest concentration of wealth in decades, study reveals

The wealth concentrated in the richest 1% of India’s population stands at its highest in six decades and the percentage share of income exceeds that of countries including Brazil and the United States, research group the World Inequality Lab found.

By the end of 2023, India’s richest citizens owned 40.1% of the country’s wealth, the highest since 1961, and their share of total income was 22.6%, the most since 1922, the study outlined.

The 10,000 wealthiest individuals of the 92 million Indian adults own an average of 22.6 billion rupees ($271.91 million) in wealth, 16,763 times the country’s average, while the top 1% possessing an average of 54 million in wealth.