In the midst of the COVID-19 rage when inflation hit India, on the other side billionaires in India increased from 102 to 142.
The Inequality Gap
While the COVID-19 pandemic ruptured the economy across the globe and hit households in India, with a sharp drop in income for the middle and poor sections of society, stunningly, the opulent in India became wealthier and billionaires in India rose. A report said that the 10 richest people doubled their wealth during the coronavirus pandemic while the income of 99 percent fell.
The report published ahead of the Davos Agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF), said A report was released on Monday by the non-governmental organization Oxfam (OXFAM), stating that while 84 percent of the households faced a decline in income in just one year due to the end of life and livelihood due to coronavirus infection, Indian billionaires the number of cases increased from 102 to 142.
The report stressed that there is inequality in India as the result of the economic system favoring the rich over the poor and marginalized with inequality. Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India said in a briefing that this reveals the reality of inequality contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds.
“The ‘Inequality Kills’ briefing shows how deeply unequal our economic system is and how it fuels not only inequality but poverty as well. We urge the Government of India to commit to an economic system which creates a more equal and sustainable nation.”
The wealth of billionaires is recorded to have increased from Rs 23.14 lakh crore ($ 313 billion) to Rs 53.16 lakh crore ($ 719 billion) during the pandemic (March 2020 to November 2021) in India.
According to the report, more than 46 million Indians are estimated to be extremely poor in the year 2020, which is almost half of the UN’s estimate of the global new poverty.
The report suggested that one percent of the richest 10 percent of the Indian population for measures to tackle inequalities such as higher investment in school education, universal health care, maternity leave, paid leave, and pension and social security benefits for all Indians.
Avalian van Romberg, head of Oxfam’s European Union (EU) office, said: “Extreme inequality is a form of economic violence where policies and political decisions that uphold the wealth and power of a few privileged people are affected by vast swathes of people around the world. The majority and themselves cause direct harm to the earth.”
It is recorded that the wealth of billionaires increased from Rs 23.14 lakh crore ($ 313 billion) to Rs 53.16 lakh crore ($ 719 billion) during the pandemic (March 2020 to November 2021) in India.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused trouble and a decline in income for the poor and vulnerable sections of the society, but during this catastrophe of the century, the rich people of India have become even richer.
The pandemic triggered gender equality back from 99 years to now 135 years. Women collectively lost Rs 59.11trillion in earnings in 2020, with 13 million fewer women in work now than in 2019, the report showed.
“It has never been so important to start righting the wrongs of this obscene inequality by targeting extreme wealth through taxation and getting that money back into the real economy to save lives,” Behar said.
“India can show the world that democratic systems are capable of wealth redistribution and inclusive growth where no one is left behind. India’s fight against inequality and poverty must be supported by the billionaires who made record profits in the country during the pandemic,” he pointed out.
The Rise of Indian Billionaires During the Pandemic
In 2020, the world added 3 billionaires every two days, India added one every week. The world added 607 new billionaires or more than three billionaires in two days, while India added 55 new billionaires or one billionaire every week in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as per the 10th Edition of Hurun Global Rich List 2021 released on Tuesday.
One might be proud that Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani emerged as the richest man in India with a net worth of $83 billion, came in at number eight in the global rich list 2021; however, when this occurs during the worst pandemics when the poor did not even have money to pay for medicines or food, no one is happy, except the very rich.
The total number of billionaires globally increased to a record 3,288 in 2020, an increase of 421 billionaires during the year. “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the total wealth of all billionaires across the globe surged 32% during the period under review to $14.7 trillion,” the Hurun Report said.
In the list of Indian billionaires, Mr. Ambani was followed by Adani Group’s Gautam Adani & family with his wealth nearly doubling to $32 billion, HCL’s Shiv Nadar & family with net worth of $27 billion, ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Mittal ($19 billion), Serum Institutes Cyrus Poonawalla ($18.5 billion), Hinduja Group’s Hinduja Brothers ($18 billion), Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Uday Kotak ($15 billion), Avenue Supermarts’ Radhakishan Damani & family ($14.5 billion), Zscaler’s Jay Chaudhry ($13 billion) and Sun Pharmaceutical’s Dilip Shanghvi and family ($12.5 billion).
“The report also noted that Mumbai is home to the highest number of billionaires in India with 60 billionaires, followed by New Delhi (40) and Bengaluru (22).
The Hurun Global Rich List 2021 ranked 3228 billionaires from 2402 companies and 68 countries. Overall, while 2312 saw their wealth increase, 635 saw their wealth decrease, there were 194 drop-offs, 32 died and 282 saw their wealth stay the same, it said.”
It added that first-generation immigrant billionaires are on the rise, accounting for 14% of the list, up from 11% last year. The countries with the most first-generation immigrant billionaires are the U.S., U.K., Switzerland, Singapore and Russia.
“Billionaires are not keeping up with philanthropy, making money much faster than they are giving it away,” Mr. Hoogewerf said.
“Billionaires are not keeping up with philanthropy, making money much faster than they are giving it away,” Mr. Hoogewerf said.