Parliament Question: Income inequality

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1099 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 INCOME INEQUALITY 1099 SHRI SAMIRUL ISLAM: Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state? (a) whether it is a fact that the average income (PPP €) of top 1 percent of population is almost 150 times the bottom 50 per cent; and (b) whether it is fact that 10 per cent of the population gets the 57.75 per cent while the bottom 50 percent population gets only 15 percent share in Income? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH) (a) &(b) In India, the data on class distribution of income is not compiled centrally. The household consumption expenditure data collected by the National Statistical Office (NSO) could be used as a proxy to capture the economic disparity in terms of consumption expenditure. According to the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (2023-24), income inequality has declined in both rural and urban India, with the Gini coefficient falling to 0.237 and 0.284, respectively, from 0.266 and 0.314 in 2022-23. This improving trend is further corroborated by World Bank estimates (India Poverty and Equity Brief, April 2025), which places India’s Gini Index at 25.5 (as against 28.8 in 2011-12), ranking it fourth globally in income equality. *****