The number of individuals reporting gross income of ₹100 crore or more has increased nearly four times over five years, sparking analysis of India’s growing ultra-rich class amid ongoing poverty and inequality reduction efforts.
India has seen a sharp increase in the number of people declaring very high incomes, with the finance ministry telling the Lok Sabha on 27 July that 576 individuals reported gross total income of at least ₹100 crore in assessment year 2025-26. That was up from 142 in 2021-22, a rise that government data and reports by Business Standard, Mint and The Economic Times all described as roughly four times over five years.
The figures, however, stop short of showing how much wealth the country’s richest individuals actually hold. The ministry said there is no official statutory definition of a billionaire under either the current Income-tax Act, 2025, or the earlier 1961 law, and it no longer keeps aggregate data on taxpayers’ net worth after the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 was scrapped with effect from 1 April 2016, according to Business Standard and Mint.
Alongside the income data, the government pointed to indicators it says show some improvement in inequality, employment and poverty. According to the household consumption survey for 2023-24, the Gini coefficient fell in both rural and urban India, with the rural measure easing from 0.266 to 0.237 and the urban figure from 0.314 to 0.284. The ministry also said unemployment among people aged 15 and above declined from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2025, based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey.
It further cited NITI Aayog studies showing a steep fall in multidimensional poverty. One estimate put poverty at 24.85% in 2015-16 and 14.96% in 2019-21, while another said it dropped from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23. The government said measures such as a progressive income-tax system, hiring-linked tax deductions and incentives for start-ups, co-operatives and infrastructure investment are intended to spread growth more widely, alongside flagship schemes including PM Awas Yojana, PM Kisan, MUDRA, Jan Dhan, Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala and Jal Jeevan Mission.
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