Wealth inequality: the Indian case

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three decades have passed since India implemented market-oriented economic reforms. While levels of and trends in consumption and income inequality have been studied extensively, wealth inequality has not received the same level of attention. In this paper, we use nationally representative household surveys to show that the period of economic reforms has witnessed a sharp rise in interpersonal wealth inequality. A decomposition of this rising wealth inequality shows that wealth is increasingly concentrated in urban areas, among a few privileged social groups, and in the top decile of the Indian population.