Manufacturing billionaires.

"The 2023 Forbes list shows that, worldwide, billionaires are down slightly in numbers and wealth from the pandemic peaks but still up sharply over the last two decades. There were 500 billionaires worth a total of less than $1tn in 2000; now there are more than 2,500 worth over $12tn," wrote Ruchir Sharma. Some countries added more. "Ironically, these include most prominently nations with deep socialist roots, including France, Sweden, Russia and India." 'Bad billionaires' are those with inherited wealth in rent seeking industries like real estate and commodities and 'good billionaires' are those in productive industries like manufacturing and technology. "India has seen a boom in good billionaires, particularly in manufacturing, they now account for, 34 of India's 169 billionaires, a fourfold increase in five years and the largest share of any industry." Hallelujah. But, what about the other 135? "The 'Big 5' consisting of Reliance Group, Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, Adani Group and Bharti Telecom have grown at the expense of smaller firms, said Viral Acharya, who was Reserve Bank Deputy Governor between 2017 and 2019. At the same time the government's 'sky-high-tariffs' have shielded these conglomerates from competition by foreign firms, as per the Bloomberg report." ET. They are causing inflation through high prices and should be broken up. "According to a report by wealth management firm Marcellus, the top 20 profit generators earn a staggering 80% of the nation's profits," wrote Ajit Ranade. "About 80% of the decadal increase in stock-market wealth measured as the value of the Nifty index was captured by just 20 companies."  "India has dropped three spots to the 40th position on the latest Global Competitiveness Index released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)," but "it is an improvement from the 43rd rank secured in 2019-2021." Wion. If our 'good billionaires' were investing in manufacturing there would be an increase in  jobs which, in turn, should increase consumption expenditure. However, even though the GDP grew by 6.1% in the quarter ending March 2023, "private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) growth slowed down considerably over the course of 2022-23." HT. "With a growth of just 1.3% manufacturing is the most underwhelming component of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the annual numbers of 2022-23. Manufacturing sector GVA actually saw a contraction in the quarters ending September 2022 and December 2022." The March 2023 quarter GVA grew by just 0.6%. Young people do not want to work in factories. While there is an enormous demand for government jobs, "Finding people willing to uproot themselves for the factory jobs most crucial to long-term economic growth can be difficult. Training them can be expensive, and keeping them can be nearly impossible." DH. It seems that, though there may have been a growth in good billionaires in India, the baddies still rule. About 4 times as many.