Data gaps hamper my work on India–Thomas Piketty

DELHI: Economist Thomas Piketty believes inequality in India is comparable with that in Brazil and South Africa. Like the two other emerging economies, where the richest 10% of the population has a 60-65% share of total wealth, a similar scenario probably exists in India, he said. But lack of transparency over the country’s direct tax statistics means he is unable to undertake a precise measurement here.

Piketty, who made waves in 2013 with his seminal book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, delivered a special lecture organized by the Indian Council of Social Science Research at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi recently.