More than 570 people reported income over ₹100 crore in FY26, 4x growth in billionaires over 5 years: MoS to Lok Sabha
The number of billionaires in India has growth 4x over the past five years, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Parliament today. He was responding to a question on whether the government is aware about the significant increase in billionaires in India, and that the country leads globally in this regard.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 27 July, Chaudhary said income-tax return (ITR) filings showed as many as 576 people reported gross total income of ₹100 crore or more in AY26. He further stated that neither the erstwhile Income-Tax Act 1961 or the new ITA 2025 provide statutory definition of the term “billionaire”.
Individuals reporting ₹100 crore income grows
According to Chaudhary’s reply:
Concentration of wealth, income inequality
In the second part of the response, the minister also addressed queries over whether the Centre has conducted studies on the impact of increasing wealth concentration and income inequality; investment, employment generation, and inclusive economic growth.
- Further, as per the discussion paper on Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06, published by NITI Aayog, multidimensional poverty in India is estimated to have declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 indicating that 24.82 crore people have escaped poverty during this period
“The government has taken several measures to reduce income and wealth inequality, promote broad-based employment generation and foster inclusive economic growth, which include a progressive Income-tax structure and increased spending on food, health, education, housing and social security,” he stated.
The MoS added that India abolished the Wealth Tax Act 1957 in April 2016 and the government does not hold data on aggregate wealth of taxpayers. However, those with very high incomes are subject to surcharge over and above the prescribed income-tax slabs.
