New Delhi: The number of Indians who reported income exceeding Rs 100 crore, or one billion, has increased from 415 in 2023-24 to 576 in 2024-25, data presented by the Union government in parliament showed. This marks a nearly 40% increase in the number of billionaires in the country in this period.The data was presented by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in response to a question from Congress MP Murari Lal Meena. Meena had asked if the Union government was aware of the significant increase in the number of billionaires in the country.Number of billionaires in the country over the past five years. Note: Assessment Year 2025-25 refers to Financial Year 2024-25.Meena had also asked if the government has maintained or compiled data regarding the estimated aggregate wealth of Indian billionaires and the increase in this wealth during the last five years.In response, Chaudhary said that the Wealth Tax Act, 1957 had been abolished in April 2016 and therefore, the government does not maintain data on aggregate wealth of taxpayers.Income and wealth inequalityReferring to the growing income inequality in the country, Meena had asked “Whether the government has conducted any study regarding the impact of the increasing concentration of income and wealth on income inequality, investment, employment generation and inclusive economic growth.” Chaudhary cited a range of official indicators to argue that inequality and poverty had declined while employment had improved. He said that the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 showed that the Gini coefficient – a measure of income inequality – fell to 0.237 in rural areas and 0.284 in urban areas, from 0.266 and 0.314 respectively in 2022-23. Chaudhary said that this indicated that the rural-urban gap was narrowing.He also referred to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which showed that labour markets had recovered beyond pre-pandemic levels in both rural and urban areas. He noted that the unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above declined from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2025.The Wire had earlier reported India’s India’s unemployment rate has increased to an 11-month high of 5.5% in May while the unemployment rate among young people aged 15-29 rose to 15% in the January-March quarter. The figure was 14.3% in the October-December quarter.On poverty, the government cited the National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023 released by NITI Aayog, which found that the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-21, with around 13.5 crore people moving out of poverty during the 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,” Chaudhary said in his response.According to the World Inequality Report 2026, “The top 10% of earners capture about 58% of national income, while the bottom 50% receive only 15%. Wealth inequality is even greater, with the richest 10% holding around 65% of total wealth and the top 1% about 40%.” The report found India to be among the most unequal countries in the world with the respect to income and wealth inequality.