Indian Billionaire Club Has Grown, Government Data Shows
India-West News Desk
NEW DELHI – As many as 576 taxpayers reported annual incomes of Rs 100 crore or more in Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26, according to data shared by the Union Finance Ministry in Parliament, marking a more than fourfold increase from five years ago.
The number stood at 142 in AY 2021-22 before rising to 301 the following year. It slipped to 284 in AY 2023-24, climbed to 415 in AY 2024-25 and reached 576 in the latest assessment year.
The figures were included in a written reply tabled in Parliament by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
The ministry, however, said the data should not be interpreted as an official count of billionaires. It noted that neither the Income-tax Act, 2025 nor the earlier Income-tax Act, 1961 provides a statutory definition of the term “billionaire.”
Instead, the ministry referred to filings of individuals reporting annual incomes of Rs 100 crore or more to represent the country’s highest-income taxpayers while responding to a parliamentary query on whether the number of billionaires in India had increased.
On measures to address income and wealth disparities, the ministry said the country’s progressive income-tax system imposes an additional surcharge on individuals with very high incomes.
