India’s income inequality has doubled in 20 years: Report

Inequality in earnings in India has doubled over the last two decades, making it one of the worst performers among emerging economies.

A new report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that the top 10 percent of wage-earners, earn 12 times more than the bottom 10 percent, compared to a ratio of six since the early 1990s.
The report Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising shows that the benefits of growth in India have been concentrated in the states that are already rich, thus contributing to the widening gap in income compared to the poorest and most populous states — like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

India has little or no benefits for its unemployed citizens. Reuters

The OECD also says India has the highest number of poor in the world. Not just that, income support is also substantially below the OECD average, with little or no benefits for unemployed in the country.
In both India and Indonesia, informal employment includes a disproportionate number of women, home-based workers, street sellers and workers sub-contracted by firms in the formal sector, says the report.
Although “Brazil, Indonesia and Argentina have recorded significant progress in reducing inequality over the past 20 years”, India, China, The Russian Federation and South Africa have become less equal over time.
The report shows that 42 percent of Indians live below the poverty line, as against the official Indian figure of 37 percent, which means that 42 percent of the 1.2 billion population lives on less than Rs 65 a day.
Recently, the Indian government was criticised for artificially trying to reduce the number of people below the poverty line. The government had said that an individual income of Rs 25 a day would help provide for adequate “private expenditure on food, education and health” in villages. In cities, it said, individual earnings of Rs 32 a day were adequate.
India has also not fared well in poverty reduction, the report says.
A World Bank report in May had said attempts by the Indian government to combat poverty were not working, as its programmes were beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments.
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