Billionaire fortunes in India has increased by 35 per cent last year to Rs 22 billion a day - while 136 million Indians who make up the poorest 10 per cent of the country continued to remain in debt since 2004, a new report by Oxfam said on Monday (21).
Globally, billionaire fortunes increased by 12 per cent last year, $2.5bn a day - while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 per cent, the report added.
The report is being launched as political and business leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
‘Public Good or Private Wealth’ shows the growing gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging our economies and fuelling public anger across the globe. It reveals how governments are exacerbating inequality by underfunding public services, such as healthcare and education, on the one hand, while under-taxing corporations and the wealthy, and failing to clamp down on tax dodging, on the other.
The report also finds that women and girls are hardest hit by rising economic inequality.
Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India said, " it is morally outrageous that a few wealthy individuals are amassing a growing share of India’s wealth while the poor are struggling to eat their next meal or pay for their child’s medicines. If this obscene inequality between the top one per cent and the rest of India continues then it will lead to a complete collapse of the social and democratic structure of this country.”
The report reveals India added 18 new billionaires last year raising the total number of billionaires to 119. Their wealth crossed the $400bn mark for the first time. It rose from $325.5bn in 2017 to $440.1bn in 2018. This is the single largest annual increase since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Getting the richest one per cent in India to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth could raise enough money to increase government spending on health by 50 per cent.
Last year, the wealth of the top one per cent in India increased by 39 per cent, whereas wealth of the bottom 50 per cent increased at a dismal three per cent.
Globally, tax rates for wealthy individuals and corporations have also been cut dramatically. For example, the top rate of personal income tax in rich countries fell from 62 per cent in 1970 to just 38 per cent in 2013. The average rate in poor countries is just 28 per cent.
India’s combined revenue and capital expenditure of the federal and state for medical and public, health, sanitation and water supply is Rs 2082bn, less than the wealth of India’s richest billionaire Mukesh Ambani at Rs 2807bn.
While billionaire wealth soars, public services are suffering from chronic underfunding or being outsourced to private companies that exclude the poorest people. In many countries including India, a decent education or quality healthcare has become a luxury only the rich can afford.
Children from poor families in India are three times more likely to die before their first birthday than children from rich families.
Taylor Jones, Vinit Thakkar and Kyran Jones join forces to launch THG Indiagetty images
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