India’s Middle-Class To Expand, ‘Destitute’ Class To Halve By 2031: Study

New Delhi: India will see a five-fold increase in its ‘super rich’ families by the turn of the decade and a large chunk of the growth will come from rural areas – home to the nation’s poorest, according to a study.

The number of super-rich households, those earning more than Rs 2 crore a year, almost doubled to 18 lakh in five years to 2021, showed a report released Wednesday by People’s Research on India’s Consumer Economy and India’s Citizen Environment, or PRICE. The growth of such households in villages was 14.2% compared to 10.6% in cities. Super-rich households will swell further to 91 lakh by 2031, aided by faster growth in rural areas, showed a study by the think tank which polled more than 40,000 people in 25 states, Bloomberg reported.

“People are increasingly engaged in commercial agriculture businesses as well as non-agriculture activities in rural areas,” Rajesh Shukla, chief executive officer of the organization and the author of the report was quoted as saying. “Entrepreneurs are flooding into rural areas, creating jobs and small businesses that drive the economy.”

Global wealth managers and foreign banks are expanding in India as the nation becomes home to a rising number of millionaires. Oxfam International estimates India minted 70 new millionaires each day between 2018 and 2022, putting a spotlight on the nation as multinationals look to tap a growing consumer market.

Along with a burgeoning middle class which is spending on luxury cars and foreign holidays, Asia’s third-largest economy is also seeing a rapid rise of billionaires such as Gautam Adani. While this underscores the growth potential of the country, it also highlights the rising inequality in the nation.

The survey also found that the country’s middle-class population of 43.2 crore- earning between  Rs 491,744.32 and Rs 2923194 annually – is the fastest-expanding category, and is predicted to reach 71.5 crore by 2031. The “destitute” class, with income less than Rs 1,25,441.95, will shrink by more than half to 7.9 crore by that time.