The expansion is even sharper at the very top. The exclusive super-rich club-those with taxable income exceeding ₹10 crore-now counts 12,660 members, after adding roughly 2,800 individuals during the year, an analysis of income tax returns (ITRs) data filed up to January 1 for the assessment year 2025-26 reveals.
The data also shows 21,278 individuals with taxable income between ₹5 crore and ₹10 crore.
The pace of growth was slower at the lower income bracket.
India had the maximum number of taxpayers in the income range of ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh to 38.3 million, reporting a growth of 15.4% over the same period of the last assessment year.
The number of taxpayers who reported annual income up to ₹5 lakh, dropped by 24.1% to 27.4 million.
Apart from the India growth story, increased tax compliance also helped boost the number of people reporting higher income, a senior tax official told ET. Advanced data analytics and digital data collected by the tax department have made under reporting of income difficult for the taxpayers.
“The number also includes some revised tax returns,” the official said.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes last month said more than 1.5 million taxpayers had revised their ITRs for the current assessment year (2025-26) till then as part of a voluntary compliance initiative.
Under the ‘non-intrusive usage of data to guide and enable (Nudge) campaign’ launched by the income-tax department, it has collected additional ₹2,500 crore in its tax kitty since assessment year 2021-22.
