576 individuals reported gross income exceeding ₹100 crore in AY 2025-26

As many as 576 people in India reported gross income exceeding ₹100 crore in AY 2025-26, an increase of 161 people from the 415 individuals a year ago. This was revealed in the Lok Sabha in an answer given by MoS for Ministry of Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary.

In the response, he said there is “no statutory definition of the term ‘billionaire’ either under the Income-tax Act, 2025 or under the erstwhile Income-tax Act, 1961”, the number of individuals having reported gross total income of ₹100 crore or more in the Income-tax Returns (ITRs) filed for the last five Assessment Years has increased.

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In 2021-22, 142 had reported income over ₹100 crore, while in 2022-23 it was 301, in 2023-24 it was 284, in 2024-25 it was 415, and in 2025-26 it was 576. 

Chaudhary said that since the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 was abolished in 2016 the government does not maintain data on aggregate wealth of taxpayers anymore.

In the responses, Chaudhary said the rural-urban gap in household consumption is narrowing. The  Gini coefficient for rural and urban areas is 0.237 and 0.284, respectively, down from 0.266 and 0.314 in 2022-23. 

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He added that the unemployment rate for individuals aged 15, according to the Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report, has decreased from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2025. He also cited the National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023, released by NITI Aayog to say that the proportion of the population in multidimensional poverty declined from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019-21. He said 13.5 crore people have escaped poverty during the period.