9 Richest Indians Have Same Wealth As The Poorest 50% Of Indians – Oxfam’s Shocking Report

This year’s numbers are not too good for India as Oxfam’s Report says that the wealth of 9 richest Indians is equivalent to the bottom 50% of the country, whereas the reports of last year, 2018, said that 73% of India’s wealth is with the richest 1%.

Oxfam, a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations, conducts an annual wealth check that marks the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The reports of 2018 said that the richer had grown richer while the poorer had grown poorer.

The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon, and his fortunes went up by $112 billion. Only 1% of his total fortune is equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a 115-million people country.

India at the top of money making

Every year, a huge number of people, especially millionaires, leave the country to settle abroad and the shocking bit is that India is the 4th largest country in terms of the exodus of millionaires for better opportunities abroad.

Indians are great at the money-earning business and wealth creation and rich Indians are at the absolute top of this game. They are smart in their decisions, like investing in mutual funds and equity shares rather than gold, which boosts their monetary levels.

Oxfam Reports for 2018

Also, India has been one of the top six wealthiest countries and stands with her head held high. But, Oxfam’s reports say that India’s 13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 percent of the country, continued to remain in debt since 2004.

The reports say, “India’s top 10 percent of the population holds 77.4 percent of the total national wealth. The contrast is even sharper for the top 1 percent that holds 51.53 percent of the national wealth. The bottom 60 percent, the majority of the population, own merely 4.8 percent of the national wealth. The wealth of the top 9 billionaires is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 50 percent of the population.”

Government exploiting poorer citizens

The fortune of Indian billionaires has puffed up by Rs. 2,200 crores per day for the last year. The top 1 percent of the rich people in India have grown richer by 39% as against the 3 percent increase in wealth for the lower half of the population.

Oxfam India’s CEO, Amitabh Behar said, “It (the survey) 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.”