From British Raj to Billionaire Raj

India's income inequality highest since 1922

In India, the rich have been getting seriously richer, and the poor have been growing significantly poorer. That's the finding of a study of income growth patterns in India since 1922. The report is titled "Indian Income Inequality, 1922-2014: From British Raj to Billionaire Raj?"

The share of national income accruing to the top 1% income earners is now at its highest level since the creation of the Indian Income tax in 1922 during the British colonial rule. The top 1% of earners captured less than 21% of total income in the late 1930s, before dropping to 6% in the early 1980s and rising to 22% today, the paper said.

The study says the share of fiscal income accruing to the top 1 per cent of population shrank substantially from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, from about 13 per cent of fiscal income to less than 5 per cent in the early 1980s. However, after India's economic liberalization when pro-business, market deregulation policies were implemented the situation was reversed, the share of fiscal held of the top 1% doubled from approximately 5 per cent to 10 per cent in 2000.

The revised paper which was released on Tuesday found that the bottom 50% group grew at a substantially lower rate than average growth since the 1980s. Middle 40% grew at a slower rate than the average. On the contrary, top 10% and top 1% grew substantially faster than the average since 1980.

http://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/british-raj-to-billionaire-raj-india-income-inequality-top-1-percent/story/259780.html