The gap between the rich and the poor has become ever wider in the last few decades. The wealthy have added to their millions while the poor are marginalized even further to the edge and beyond the point of starvation. Governments across the world as in India are in denial of this trend tossing off figures and statistics to prove their point that everyone is prospering. But a recent report by a venture capital firm on the economic health of this country has challenged the ‘all is well’ face by plainly pointing out that a billion (100 crore) out of 1.40 population in India have no money to make discretionary purchases. This has been contested by some but the Blume Venture report has highlighted this vital spot in the Indian economy which has for long been hazed out by those who want to maintain the prosperous shining India image for their own political interests.
The total population of 1.40 billion is classified as the “consuming’ class, but out of this only 130-140 million i.e only 13-14 crore people or 10 per cent of the population have the income to spend on what they want. Added to this is another 30 crore people who have the money to spend but are reluctant spenders. What does this mean for the Indian economy? It seems to mean that if the majority of the people have no purchasing power, then the consumer marketplace will be empty, and if there are no consumers then where will the manufacturers sell their goods, and if this is the case how will there be any growth or job creation.
It also means that the market is now tuning to serve the small percentage of the wealthy class who have the money and tailoring their goods and services to suit them. That is the reason why the market for the high-end cars went up 20 per cent in 2023-24 and is expected to rise while the budget car market is at an all time low. The FMCG market, which economists say normally runs on an even keel, has slowed down to a worrying level and shows no sign of rising. It will not be out of place to point out here that while the majority of the country’s citizens were cowered under lockdown and without jobs in the aftermath, the number of billionaires in India increased. Not only that, the wealth of the existing billionaires increased by a whopping 35 per cent. They now own 57 per cent of the nation’s wealth. The economic processes have become so distorted that the wealth of the nation is not being distributed any further but only being circulated within the same group of the wealthy and their affiliates. The rich are getting richer by marginalizing the people further downwards.
The increased fortune of the billionaire entrepreneurs and their businesses has however not shown a commensurate growth in job creation in the private sector. As it is, one hears of falling wages and loss of jobs across various sectors and industries. The lakhs of unemployed and the 83.35 crore beneficiaries of free food for five years are eagerly waiting for India to become a $5 trillion economy so that they can get decently paying jobs and they can live in dignity. So also lakhs of unemployed and under-employed Meghalayans look forward to reaching that $ 10 Billion economy as promised by 2028. The only trouble is that, whether it is in the country in general or specifically in this state, it is seen that the rise in wealth of oligarchs and their companies seems to have no correlation with better job opportunities and higher incomes for the majority of their citizens. The Government of the day has to guard against the corporate take-over of public assets to hoard profits in their own pockets, and it has to ensure that it is shared by all citizens if such prosperity is to have any real meaning at all.
