Wealth Ownership and Inequality in India: A Socio-religious Analysis

Abstract

This article analyses wealth inequality across socio-religious groups in the country and across the states based on the All India Debt and Investment Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office in 2013. The result shows that one-fourth of the total wealth is concentrated in the hands of the top 1 per cent households, whereas 75 per cent of the total wealth is concentrated in the top 20 per cent households. On the contrary, a very small proportion of the assets, that is, 3.4 per cent, are owned by the bottom 40 per cent households. The Hindu high castes (HHCs) have the highest ownership of wealth as compared to any other socio-religious group with respect to the share of wealth and average household wealth ownership. Interestingly, HHCs also have the highest inequality as compared to any other group.