The number of individuals who declared a gross income of Rs 100 crore or more in their income-tax returns rose to 301 in 2022-2023, moderated slightly to 284 in 2023-2024, then climbed to 415 in 2024-2025.
The number of individuals reporting a gross income of Rs 100 crore or more increased sharply to 576 in assessment year 2025-2026 from 142 in assessment year 2021-2022, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Replying to a question on the increasing number of billionaires (100 crore is 1 billion), Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said there was no statutory definition of the term 'billionaire' either under the Income-tax Act, 2025, or the erstwhile Income-tax Act, 1961.
The number of individuals who declared a gross income of Rs 100 crore or more in their income-tax returns had risen to 301 in 2022-2023, moderated slightly to 284 in 2023-2024, then climbed to 415 in 2024-2025.
Key Points
- The number of individuals reporting gross income of Rs 100 crore or more rose to 576 in assessment year 2025-26.
- The government said there is no statutory definition of a 'billionaire' under either the Income-tax Act, 2025 or the earlier law.
- Official data shows rural and urban Gini coefficients have declined, indicating a narrowing gap in income inequality.
No Billionaire Definition
On the question of the estimated aggregate wealth of Indian billionaires, the minister said the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, was abolished with effect from April 1, 2016, and the government did not maintain data on the aggregate wealth of taxpayers.
Addressing concerns on the impact of rising concentration of income and wealth on inequality, investment, employment generation and inclusive growth, the ministry cited several official indicators.
According to the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-2024, the Gini coefficient for rural areas is 0.237, down from 0.266 in 2022-2023, while the urban coefficient has declined to 0.284 from 0.314 over the same period, indicating that the rural-urban gap is narrowing.
(A zero coefficient is perfect equality and one is the opposite.)
The Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey shows labour markets have recovered beyond pre-Covid levels in both urban and rural areas.
The unemployment rate for individuals aged 15 and above has decreased from 3.6 per cent in 2022 to 3.1 per cent in 2025.
Poverty Levels Continue To Fall
On multidimensional poverty, the National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023, released by the NITI Aayog, shows that the proportion of the population in multidimensional poverty declined from 24.85 per cent to 14.96 per cent between 2015-2016 and 2019-2021, with about 135 million people escaping poverty during this period.
A subsequent discussion paper published by the NITI Aayog estimates that multidimensional poverty fell further from 29.17 per cent in 2013-2014 to 11.28 per cent in 2022-2023, indicating that 248.2 million people moved out of poverty.
Tax Measures For Employment
The government said it took several steps to reduce income and wealth inequality, promote broadbased employment generation, and foster inclusive economic growth.
These include a progressive income-tax structure with graded tax slabs and a surcharge on high incomes, along with increased public spending on food, health, education, housing and social security.
Among direct tax measures aimed at employment generation, Section 146 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (corresponding to Section 80JJAA of the earlier law) provides a deduction of 30 per cent of the additional employee cost incurred by eligible businesses for three years in respect of eligible new employees.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
