India's Poverty and Prosperity

India is a nation in constant transition. The world bank estimates that up to 400 million of her one and a quarter billion people, live below the poverty line. Simply put, people below the poverty line make less than a dollar a day.
She is home to the largest number of such poor people in the world.

But that is just one side of the story, India is also home to the fastest growing number of dollar millionaires in the world after South Korea. According to a recent Merrill Lynch report, there are about 83000 people in India who own assets of more than a million dollars. The report says their numbers are growing at 20 percent a year.
This Car dealership in Delhi sells the latest Bentley and Lamborghini cars. Each of these cars are worth about half a million dollars, after accounting for more than 100 percent customs duty.









But there is no dearth of buyers. The average waiting time for delivery is 6 months, and sales have grown 40 percent year on year for the last three years.









So these are interesting times in India, where her 400 million extremely poor and 83,000 extremely rich people live side by side...in their own very different worlds.

( Photo : Rajesh Sundaram)