Tax the super-rich, close the gap

In a dark irony, the country's richest 1% control close to 40% of the national wealth. The top 10% capture nearly 60% of the national income. And the bottom 50% survives on just 6.4%.

By Our Copy Desk

We have heard a lot about rising inequality in India. At one end are the extremely rich, and at the other end, the poor eking out an existence. Many among them, literally, are dying to survive. There is this dark side of the country that is often hidden behind statistics that speak of the growing number of billionaires it can boast of.

Several economists, from Thomas Piketty downwards, have pointed out the growing inequities in India, where the rich are increasingly getting richer and the poor, poorer. A new study--Wealth Tracker India 2026--released by non-profit organisation Centre for Financial Accountability and Tax The Top campaign, examines the various contours of this widening inequity and makes a case for a progressive tax on the super-rich to build a more equitable society.

 According to the study, the country's richest 1% control close to 40% of the national wealth. The top 10% capture nearly 60% of the national income.

And the bottom 50% survives on just 6.4%.

Today, Rs 166 lakh crore (almost 50% of the GDP) is in the hands of just 1,688 individuals and their families who can be categorised as the super-rich.

This lop-sided accumulation of wealth has led to the number of dollar billionaires in the country growing. In 1991, the report notes, India had only one dollar billionaire. In 2025, this number hit 358.

The numbers are staggering. According to the study, the combined wealth of Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani & family, Savitri Jindal & family, Sunil Mittal & family, and Shiv Nadar increased by 400% from 2019 to 2025.

Mukesh Ambani’s wealth increased by 153% from 2019 to 2025, while Adani’s increased by 625%! Nearly 90% of all billionaire wealth in India was held by upper castes.

The report suggests that a 2%-6% progressive tax on the 1,688 super-rich families and an additional one-third inheritance tax on them could annually generate Rs 10.6 lakh crore to fund welfare schemes that are currently languishing because the government claims there is a paucity of funds.    

It argued that a 2%-6% progressive tax on the 1,688 ultra-rich families possessing over Rs 1,000 in wealth and an additional one-third inheritance tax imposed on them could enable the country to spend Rs 10.6 lakh crore annually on welfare schemes.

The benefits could include reviving the MNREGA scheme, increasing health and education spending and providing Rs 12,000 per month in pension to the elderly.

Ironically, while the rich have been growing richer, the tax burden on them has been growing lighter. According to the report, in 2016 the wealth tax was abolished, and corporate tax has also seen reductions, “till we have today reached a position where the corporates are paying lesser taxes than an ordinary Indian.”

The rich have also been helped by friendly banks. The report points out that over the last 11 years, the Union government has written off Rs 19.6 lakh crore of corporate loans.

According to eminent economist Prabhat Patnaik, who is quoted in the report: "In India in the neo-liberal period, there has been a substantial reduction in the tax burden on the rich, so that the increase in investment by capitalists has been accompanied by an increase in their wealth as well. It is this fact which largely underlies the increase in wealth inequality in the country."

The report concludes with these pertinent observations:

“What we need is a reversal of the neoliberal doctrine that prioritises profit over people. What we need is a system that, as suggested by Prabhat Patnaik, considers universal social and economic rights well within the definition of democracy. The struggle against inequality and the demand for wealth tax and the redistributive justice that it entails is very much a stepping stone towards a more equitable and socially just direction. It is a step that counters the attempt of the government to obfuscate the real divide in society by playing up a divisive and communal agenda fuelled by hate. It is a step towards actualising the spirit of the Constitution.”

(The full report can be accessed at https://www.cenfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Wealth-Tracker-India_compressed.pdf )