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Mumbai.The number of Indians reporting annual income of ₹100 crore or more has more than quadrupled over the past five years, reaching 576 in 2025-26 from 142 in 2021-22, the government informed Parliament on Monday.

However, while the Centre has data on taxpayers reporting such income through Income Tax Returns (ITRs), it does not maintain any official record of their total wealth, the Lok Sabha was told.

Growing High-Income Taxpayer Base

Replying to a question by Congress MP Murari Lal Meena from Rajasthan's Dausa, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Income Tax Act does not provide a statutory definition of a "billionaire".

Instead, the government tracks individuals who disclose an annual income of ₹100 crore or more in their ITRs.

The minister shared the following figures:

Financial Year Individuals reporting annual income of ₹100 crore or more

2021-22 142 2022-23 301 2023-24 284 2024-25 415 2025-26 576

No Official Wealth Database

The government clarified that it does not maintain a consolidated database of the total assets owned by such high-income individuals.

• Wealth data is not officially compiled by the Centre.
• The Wealth Tax Act, 1957 was abolished with effect from April 1, 2016.
• As a result, there is no statutory mechanism to maintain taxpayers' aggregate wealth details.

The response came amid questions on income inequality and the concentration of wealth in the country.

Government Cites Narrowing Rural-Urban Gap

The Finance Ministry also highlighted indicators suggesting an improvement in income distribution and living standards.

According to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24, the Gini Coefficient — a measure of income and consumption inequality — declined to 0.237 in rural India and 0.284 in urban India, compared with the previous survey, indicating that the gap between rural and urban household consumption is narrowing.

Poverty, Job Indicators Improve

The government also pointed to improvements in employment and poverty indicators.

Key highlights include:

• The unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above declined to 3.1% in 2025 from 3.6% in 2022, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS).
• NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index showed multidimensional poverty falling from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-21.
• Nearly 13.5 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty during the period.
• The government said it has imposed surcharge on individuals with very high incomes, in addition to normal income tax, as part of its efforts to reduce inequality while supporting employment generation.