The persistence of unequal growth will be bad for India
The World Inequality Lab (WIL) recently published a report, Income and Wealth Inequality in India 1922-2023: Rise of the Billionaire Raj. The subtitle is a nod to the name of a 2018 book by James Crabtree, then a Financial Times correspondent and considered an avid India watcher. The book described itself as a journey through India’s new gilded age and had the imprint of a journalist’s keen eye for detail and drama.
It had ample hints about India’s deepening cronyism. It won praise for being an invaluable commentary and also the Business Book of the Year award at a prestigious lit-fest. Yet, recently Crabtree admitted that he got some of his prognosis completely wrong.
He and others had predicted that India was destined to be ruled forever by minority governments with cobbled coalitions. Two national elections have proved this prediction utterly wrong and a third is on its way. He suggested that foreigners like himself ought to observe a moment of humility, as they’d had no clue about the transformative leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The second wrong prediction was that inequality would decline in India, as liberal democracy and capitalist growth became more inclusive. In fact, India’s trend is the opposite. The latest WIL report shows inequality increasing.
The state of wealth and income inequality is the worst in 100 years. The top 1% of the country receives nearly 23% of the annual national income and holds a staggering 40% of the wealth. The country now has 271 dollar-billionaires, with 94 being added in 2023 alone.
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