Skip to main content

World Bank claim of falling inequality in India masks deep structural gaps, says CFA

The advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has raised serious concerns over a recent World Bank brief that cites a decline in India’s consumption-based Gini coefficient — from 28.8 in 2011–12 to 25.5 in 2022–23 — portraying it as a sign of growing equality. According to CFA, the data offers a misleading picture of socio-economic reality on the ground.
While a lower Gini coefficient typically suggests reduced inequality, CFA cautions that this metric has limitations, particularly in a country like India. The Gini index, it points out, is most responsive to changes in the middle of the income distribution and fails to capture disparities at the top and bottom ends — where inequality is often most pronounced. Moreover, both the richest and the poorest sections are often left out or underrepresented in surveys, weakening the reliability of such aggregate figures.
“Figures like these are increasingly symbolic, rather than substantive,” CFA notes, pointing to a broader erosion of statistical transparency and institutional independence in recent years. This, it argues, has contributed to a growing trust deficit, with official claims of rising equality often used to promote a narrative of national success that overlooks deep-rooted inequalities.
CFA further highlights the consequences of policy choices such as the 2019 corporate tax cut, which led to an estimated revenue loss of ₹1.45 lakh crore annually. At the same time, investment in essential public services like health and education remains inadequate. India’s public health expenditure stands at just 1.8% of GDP — well below the World Health Organization's recommended 5% — while spending on education has remained below 3% of GDP, despite a long-standing national target of 6%.
Meanwhile, the informal sector — employing over 85% of India’s workforce — remains vulnerable, with stagnating or declining wages despite reported economic growth. Welfare schemes like MNREGA have seen budgetary reductions, and the increasing reliance on Aadhaar-linked payments has, in some cases, added delays and exclusions to much-needed assistance.
CFA argues that the core problem is structural, not statistical. “While India appears to grow more equal in spreadsheets and bar graphs, the on-ground reality tells a different story,” the organisation states. Until inequality is addressed as a matter of redistribution and justice — rather than a technical issue to be adjusted through selective metrics — progress will remain misleading and superficial, it adds.
The statement serves as a call for deeper scrutiny of how data is used to shape public perception and policy, urging a shift toward addressing the foundational issues that perpetuate economic and social divides.

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

Unchecked urbanisation, waste dumping: Study warns of 'invited disaster' as khadi floods threaten half of Surat

An action research report, “Invited Disaster: Khadi Floods in Surat City”, published by two civil rights groups, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Surat, states that nearly half of Gujarat's top urban conglomerate—known for its concentration of textile and diamond polishing industries—is affected by the dumping of debris and solid waste, along with the release of treated and untreated sewage into the khadis (rivulets), thereby increasing the risk of flood disaster.

Two decades on, hunger still haunts Gujarat: Survey exposes stark gap behind poverty claims

A Niti Aayog report , released about two years ago, estimated that in Gujarat — which our powers-that-be have long considered a model state — 11.66% of people are "multidimensionally poor," a term referring to an index that seeks to estimate "multiple and simultaneous deprivations" at the household level across three macro categories: health, education, and living standards.