The Elite 1 Crore Club of India

The Indian Finance Minister Mr. Chidambaram mentioned in the budget speech of 2013-2014 that India has an elite 1 crore plus club - The club of people earning more than a crore rupees a year and the number is somewhere around 40000.

This comes to me as a shock and a disappointment. It is depressingly small considering that it includes every one from CEO of companies to Bollywood actors and producers, to Sports persons (specifically cricketers) to business tycoons. To put things into perspective, it means that less than 0.004% of our population. That means in a population of 10000, there are only 4!!


I don't know, if we should call this club as elite or call this club as the lucky ones as this ratio shows that you need to be more than elite to be a part of this club. You got to be lucky!! This ratio is worse than the selection ratio of IIM, the most competitive exam in the world in terms of selection which selects 1 in 100 or 100 in 10000.

With various business magazines and newspapers showing list of graduates out of IIT and IIM getting more than a crore salary increasing every year, it is not surprising for us to realize that this graduates are paid such high salaries abroad and not in India either because companies feel that the talent in India is good but the work here doesn't deserve that high compensation or that the work done in India is too meager compared to  their caliber and capability. Either ways, it is highly depressing to see such a bad state of Indian economy with more 60 years after Independence.

To add to this, consider that it is difficult to buy a good house in Mumbai for less than a crore. Somehow, the income disparity in the country is making survival tougher over the years.

Comparing it with NRIs, the starting salary of an Indian engineer who goes to USA to pursue an MS and do a job is around 100000 USD amounting to 60 Lakh rupees and generally they reach the 1 crore figure by 5-8 years. Engineers working in India since 30 years cannot boast of even half of this compensation! An MBBS who pursues a post graduate in USA generally starts with a salary of 150000 USD (a crore approx) if pursued in a decently good field whereas there are MD doctors in India who earn a few lakh rupees if doing a job in India.

To look at the top 20 countries with highest percentage of population being millionaires, please check this link
http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110602/twenty-countries-with-the-highest-proportion-of-millionaires#slide20