Since the year 2004, the poorest 10 per cent of the country (13.6 crore people) have continued to remain in debt, the Oxfam report added.

The combined revenue and capital expenditure of the centre and states for medical, public health, sanitation and water supply is Rs 2.08 lakh crore, which is less than India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s wealth of Rs 2.8 lakh crore, news agency PTI’s calculations based on a study showed.

The wealth held by the top 9 billionaires in the country is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 50 per cent of the population, it added. Since the year 2004, the poorest 10 per cent of the country (13.6 crore people) have continued to remain in debt, the Oxfam report added.

“India’s top 10 per cent of the population holds 77.4 per cent of the total national wealth. The contrast is even sharper for the top 1 per cent that holds 51.53 per cent of the national wealth.The bottom 60 per cent, the majority of the population, own merely 4.8 per cent of the national wealth,” Oxfam report said.

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The wealth of billionaires in India rose by Rs 2,200 crore per day in 2018. While wealth of the bottom-half of the population swelled by 3 per cent, wealth of 1 per cent of India’s richest people grew by 39 per cent per day last year.

The rising economic disparity is making it more challenging to carry on the fight against poverty, hurting economies and triggering public anger worldwide, the report noted.

It’s ‘morally outrageous’ that a few rich people are accumulating a rising share of India’s wealth, and the poor are finding it difficult to eat their next meal, Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said.