India’s richest have more than doubled their fortunes during the COVID-19 crisis that’s ravaged the country and worsened poverty, and the government should revisit its policies to redistribute wealth, according to the global Oxfam Davos report of 2022.
The nation added 40 billionaires to 142 last year, a year that saw a second wave of COVID-19 infections overwhelmed its health infrastructure and pushed crematoriums and burial grounds to breaking point. The contingent of billionaires have almost $720 billion in combined fortune, more than the poorest 40% of the population, the group said in a report on rising inequality published Monday.
Wealth has surged globally during the pandemic as the value of everything from stock prices to crypto and commodities has jumped. The world’s 500 richest people added more than $1 trillion to their net worths last year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. India, where urban unemployment climbed as high as 15% last May and food insecurity worsened, now counts more billionaires than France, Sweden and Switzerland combined, Oxfam said.