A new study by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has found that the number of Indian billionaires has grown by 77 per cent between 2019 and 2025 and their wealth has grown 227 per cent.
“Between 2019 till 2025 individuals with 1000 crores and above in terms of headcount grew by 77%! In the same time period, their wealth grew by a staggering 227%! In 2019, their combined wealth was approximately Rs 31 lakh crore. By 2025, it remains around Rs 88 lakh crore,” notes Wealth tracker India: Tax the top, Close the gap.
Moreover, the wealth of the five richest families in the country rose by 400 per cent in these six years, claimed 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. Ambani’s wealth increased by 153% from 2019 to 2025 while Adani’s increased by a whopping 625%,” the analysis noted.
The report claimed that the inequality in India at the moment is similar to the colonial period.
“Today India is witnessing inequality at levels that are comparable to colonial times. The country’s richest 1% control over 40% of the national wealth. The top 10% capture nearly 60% of national income while the bottom 50% of the population survives on just 15%. The number of dollar billionaires in India rose from only 1 in 1991 to over 358 by 2025. Today just 1,688 individuals in India hold a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or more with their total cumulative wealth surpassing Rs 166 lakh crore, representing nearly 50% of India’s GDP!”
It also noted that in 2019, the share of wealth of the top 1 per cent in India was 36.5 per cent and that of the bottom 50 per cent was 6.8 per cent. From 2022 it holds steady at 40.1 per cent for the top 1 per cent and 6.4 per cent for the bottom 50 per cent.
Nearly 90 per cent of all billionaire wealth in India is held by upper castes, as per the study.
The assessment called for taxing the country’s super-rich.
“A 2% Wealth Tax on Ambani can translate into free laptops to approximately 1.85 crore Class 10 students three times! Providing Rs 18,000 to 2.85 crore women would cost about ₹51,300 crore annually, meaning a 2% Wealth Tax on Ambani could finance nearly two years of universal maternity rights,” it claimed.
Similarly, “A 2% Wealth Tax on Adani could fund over two years of primary healthcare services nationwide. A 2% Wealth Tax on Adani could translate into 87 crore free LPG cylinders. A 2% Wealth Tax on Jindal can fund nince years of Scheduled Tribe Scholarship and 14 years of Scheduled Caste Scholarlships.”
The document estimated that a 2 per cent-6 per cent progressive wealth tax on 1,688 ultra-rich families (with Rs 1000+ crore wealth) + one-third inheritance tax will be equivalent to the country spending Rs 10.63 lakh crore annually on the people. “This can work wonders for the people,” it said.