A Glance at Wealth Disparities in India

A two-minute drive away from my grandfather’s house in Calcutta takes you to one of the nicest country clubs in the city: Tollygunge Club. Ranked in the top 20 country clubs in the world, Tolly – as the locals call it – contains an expansive golf range, seven tennis courts, and an olympic-sized swimming pool. If you are hungry, you can grab a bite at one of their multiple restaurants, all overlooking the Club’s meticulously kept grounds. To get in, you need to have extreme connections and pay a hefty amount of money each month. Or, if you have millions of rupees to spare, you could enter an auction, bidding with other wealthy people to buy yourself a spot in the prestigious space. 

However, a two-minute drive in the opposite direction from my grandfather’s house, away from the evergreen scenery and the lofty meals, brings you to one of the largest slums in the city: hundreds of poverty-stricken families beg on the side of the road, pleading for something to eat for the day, often turning to garbage piles in hopes of finding food. At the country club, a meal is expected–sometimes wasted. For the families living in the slum, a meal is gold. 

The disparity is not surprising: India has one of the strongest economies in the world. How is it, then, that the country, whose economy is projected to be the world’s third strongest by 2027, can contain such inequity? In India, 16 of the top most affluent people can match the wealth of 600 million impoverished families, and the top 1% of India contain 58% of the nation’s wealth. Even though millions of people throughout India live beneath the poverty line, and only hundreds of people control the wealth throughout India, the Indian economy is growing, and the government is attempting everything they can to remove the enormous gap between the rich and the poor, but there are many factors that make progress very difficult. 

Part of the problem lies in the reliance on agriculture as a source of income:  even though agriculture contributes the least to the overall GDP, millions on top of millions of Indians work daily on their farms, planting and picking foods for their families and for the market. Around two thirds of the country has, and continues to depend on subsistence agriculture. Many people throughout the country are pushed into agriculture due to its promising payout: India is one of the world’s highest spice and grain exporters, and many people hope that they can make a living out of this. However, only a limited amount of land is ideal for planting. Furthermore, farmers are generally extremely low-income and rarely have the ability to actually make profit from their crops. 

Another main factor of poverty is water: millions of impoverished families only have access to dirty water, thus keeping them bed sick for months and lowering their income. To fix the issue of access to clean water, India has launched multiple projects around their country to purify all of the dirty and unsafe water around the rural areas. To do this, they removed millions of pipes, cleaned them, replaced them, and set the pressure high so that there is less chance of bacteria seeping into the pipes and thus into the water. The Indian government has also launched a program called the Aspirational Districts Program, where the government aims to help 112 impoverished areas around the country and transform them into a sustainable, industrial neighborhood where the poverty line is raised and everyone is making a healthy living. 

In addition to cleaning water sources, Prime Minister Modi has implemented dozens of economic reforms for the country, with the vision of growing the country’s economy. For the next five years, Modi aims to raise per capita yearly income from around $2,500 to $4,418, ensuring more money for more people, leaving them with more financial stability within their household. This, in theory, will alleviate the financial difficulties that many face by ensuring that everyone has more of a chance to put food on their plate each given day, with a bigger buffer zone, leaving them with more opportunities.

However, while many people in India are starved, homeless, and in need of food, India boasts one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) in the world, comparing with the likes of Germany and Japan, and ranking 5th overall as of 2024. 

But how exactly, does a poverty-washed country like India yield such a high GDP? GDP, or Gross-Domestic Product, composed of all the sales of final goods and services, measures the total income of all the outports for a total country in a given span of time (typically measured in a year). The United States of America, the world’s leading GDP, is valued to be around 25.5 trillion USD. India, with a population of 1.4 billion people, has an enormous market for consumers to choose from, as the market needs to suit the entire population’s needs. 

Furthermore, Prime Minister Modi has implemented many reforms over the past 2 decades to improve India’s economy, thus boosting the GDP exponentially. Around 10 years ago, India’s GDP sat at 9th overall, yet today, threatens to overtake Germany and Japan into third in the globe. In addition to that, Modi looks towards the future as an opportunity for India’s economy to grow even more. According to Reuters, Modi aims to expand the economy to $6.69 trillion, compared to their $3.51 trillion currently by the year 2030. 

While we cannot deny that inequality is visible in India, it is also important to recognize that individuals and organizations alike are working towards finding solutions. In the coming posts, I will explore what individual issues look like, and also the steps that are being taken to find solutions.