The number of Indians having reported their annual income to be Rs 100 crore or more has increased four-fold in five years, the Union government told Parliament on Monday.

The data was released by the government while responding to a question about how many billionaires were there in the country. The Ministry of Finance said that there was no statutory definition of the term “billionaire” in the Income Tax Act.

However, it listed the number of persons who had reported an annual income of Rs 100 crore or more each financial year between 2021-’22 and 2025-’26.

In the fiscal year 2021-’22, there were 142 persons with an income in the more than Rs 100 crore category. The number of persons in the category more than doubled to 301 in the following financial year.

As of the financial year 2025-’26, there were 576 persons at that income level.

The ministry said that it does not have data on the estimated aggregate wealth of Indian billionaires as the Wealth Tax Act was abolished in 2016.

A study published by global property management firm Knight Frank in April showed that India currently has 207 dollar billionaires and more than 19,850 ultra-high net worth individuals. The country is projected to have 313 billionaires and more than 25,200 ultra-high net worth...

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