A report by the World Inequality Lab, co-authored by French economist Thomas Piketty, has estimated that in 2022-23, India’s income and wealth inequalities were at their highest levels since records began in 1922 and 1961 respectively. The richest 1% of the population now own 40.1% of the nation’s wealth, higher than in the US (34.9%), China (32.6%) or France (24%). Previously, inequality fell from Indian independence in 1947 to the 1980s and has been rising since.