- The WIL is a global research center focused on the study of inequality and public policies that promote social, economic, and environmental justice.
- Key findings of the study:
- Inequality declined post-independence till the early 1980s, after which it began rising and has skyrocketed since the early 2000s.
- By the end of 2023, India's richest citizens owned 40.1 percent of the country's wealth.
- India’s top 1 percent income share is among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil, and the US.
- Issues with extreme inequality
- It facilitates the disproportionate influence of wealthy people on society and government leading to plutocracy.
- Poor people find it more difficult to escape poverty as they do not have the same opportunities.
- Leads to lower overall economic growth.
- Recommendations given in the study for removing income inequality
- To improve the quality of economic data.
- Broad-based public investments in health, education, and nutrition to enable the average Indian.
- Restructuring of the tax code to account for both income and wealth.
- A “super tax” of 2% on the net wealth of the wealthiest families can be imposed.