Number of billionaires in India stands at 136 in FY21: FM Sitharaman

NEW DELHI:  Despite Covid and economic slowdown, the number of billionaires has gone up from 77 in 2018-19 to 141 in 2019-20, almost double. Even in 2020-21, India lost just five billionaires, reducing the tally to 136.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Parliament on Tuesday that the number of individuals disclosing a gross total income of more than Rs 100 crore (one billion rupees) in a year in their return of income filed with the Income Tax Department during 2018-19 stood at 77. 

However, the number of billionaires in India came down to 136 in 2020-21 from 141 in 2019-20, based on the gross total income declared in the income tax return, Sitharaman said. However, she clarified that there is no administrative definition of the term billionaire with the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

“As per the information available with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), there is no legislative or administrative definition of the term billionaire under direct taxes. Wealth tax has been abolished with effect from April 1, 2016, and therefore, CBDT does not any more capture information about complete wealth of an individual taxpayer,” she added.

The latest Forbes list, published in second half of April suggests that despite pandemic, the total number of Indian billionaires rose to 140 this year from 102 last year and their combined wealth nearly doubled to $596 billion. India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China. “The three richest Indians (Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Shiv Nadar) alone have added just over $100 billion between them,” Forbes had said in April.

Ironically, in the same month, Pew Research Center, using World Bank data, has estimated that the number of poor in India (with income of $2 per day or less in purchasing power parity) has more than doubled to 134 million from 60 million in just a year due to the pandemic-induced recession.