As per a report brought out by Oxfam International, the wealth of just nine richest Indians is equivalent to the bottom 50% of India. In other words, nine individuals hold as much as more than 63 crore Indians hold as wealth!

Worryingly, the top 10% of the Indian population hold about 77.4% of the national wealth. Since 2004, over 13.6 crore Indians have continued to remain in debt.

If, globally, the fortunes of billionaires rose by USD 2.5 billion a day in 2018, that of Indian billionaires rose by Rs 2,200 Cr a day. "Just 1% of the fortune of the world's richest man, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, is the equivalent of the whole health budget for Ethiopia," Oxfam says.

"The 3.8 billion people who make up the world's poorest half saw their wealth decline by 11% last year," it further says.