Overview
- The Finance Ministry told Parliament on Monday that 576 individuals reported a gross total income of ₹100 crore or more in Assessment Year 2025-26, up from 142 in AY 2021-22.
- The ministry said there is no statutory definition of “billionaire” under tax law and that the government stopped keeping an official aggregate-wealth series after the Wealth-tax Act was abolished in 2016.
- Officials cited the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 and Periodic Labour Force Survey data to report lower rural and urban Gini coefficients and a fall in unemployment from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2025.
- Independent studies and private rich lists, including the World Inequality Lab and Hurun/Forbes estimates, offer contrasting pictures and say wealth concentration remains high, which keeps the inequality debate contested.
- MoSPI’s first National Household Income Survey is underway and its results, together with future income-tax data releases, will be watched for clearer measures that could shape tax enforcement and policy on broadening the direct-tax base.