Emerging from COVID-19, the starkest outcome has been the sharpening of inequality.
According to the World Inequality Report 2022, released by the Paris-based World Inequality Lab, the income share of the bottom half of the Indian population was estimated to have fallen to only 13%, while the top 10% captured 57% of national income and the top 1% alone got 22%.
Oxfam data shows that the top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth. Seventy-three percent of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1%, while 67 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth.
Ashwini Deshpande, (founding) director, Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University, discusses with Mitali Mukherjee what is happening across India and how can governments help to manage economic distress.
