India's richest 1% has highest concentration of wealth in decades, study shows

A man carries blankets as he crosses railway tracks on a foggy and cold winter morning in the northern Indian city of Allahabad December 29, 2014. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The wealth concentrated in the richest 1% of India's population is at its highest in six decades and the percentage share of income exceeds that of countries including Brazil and the United States, research group the World Inequality Lab found.

Since India, which won its independence in 1947 from Britain, opened its markets to foreign investment in 1992, its number of billionaires has surged.