Shekhar Natarajan Says a Billionaire Makes in an Hour What India Makes in 428 Years
Watching a man who looked like a farmer face a six-million-rupee hospital bill, Shekhar Natarajan says the man will be in debt for life.
Tomorrow, Today · India's Gig Economy, Education & The Future of Work | Chetan Bhagat | Tomorrow TodayShekhar Natarajan says that in one hour, Mukesh Ambani makes what the rest of India makes in 428 years.
Natarajan was standing in line at a hospital to pay for medicine for his neighbor, he calls a sister. She is roughly 47, and needed a 150,000-rupee injection for cholesterol and blood pressure.
In front of him, the cashier asked a man to pay 60 lakhs, or six million rupees, for an operation. The man looked to Natarajan like a farmer from another state, and Natarajan assumed he had been told the surgery offered a 90 percent chance to save one. He expects the man will sell property and stay in debt for life.
Author Chetan Bhagat, who was talking with him, said inequality is K-shaped, with one side rising and the other not. He said people who see growth are also right, seeing better cars, houses, and airports, like people touching different parts of an elephant.
Questions people ask
Who is Ambani?
He is Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, India's largest private company by revenue. His businesses span oil refining, telecom, retail, and media. He has routinely ranked as Asia's richest person.
How much is 60 lakhs in American money?
A lakh is 100,000 rupees, so 60 lakhs is six million rupees. At recent exchange rates, that is roughly $68,000 to $72,000. For a small farmer in India, it can equal many years of household income.
What does K-shaped inequality mean?
It means two groups move in opposite directions, forming the two arms of the letter K. The upper arm, the well-off, sees incomes, assets, and consumption rise. The lower arm, poorer workers, stagnates or falls, even when the overall economy is growing.