India's decline in extreme poverty has been one of the fastest globally, yet inequality and regional concentration of poverty persist. Critically examine.

The World Bank's Poverty and Equity Brief (October 2026) reports that extreme poverty ($3.00/day, 2021 PPP) in India fell from 27.1% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2023 [1]. This is a real achievement. However, the gains are uneven, and it is not certain exactly how large the fall was.

Achievements: rapid, broad-based decline

• Monetary: poverty at the $4.20 lower-middle-income (LMIC) line fell from 57.7% to 16.1%. About 496 million people were lifted out [1].
• Non-monetary: NITI Aayog's MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index) fell from 29.17% (2013-14) to 11.28% (2022-23), and 24.82 crore people escaped deprivation [2].
• Welfare cushion: HCES 2022-23 counts free PDS foodgrains as consumption [3], so targeted transfers raised measured living standards.

Persisting inequality

• Wage gap: the top 10% of workers earn about 13 times what the bottom 10% earn [1].
• Gini paradox: the consumption Gini of 25.5 (2022-23) is presented as one of the world's lowest [4]. But the rich save more and under-report in surveys, and the World Bank warns that India's inequality may be underestimated [5].
• Youth unemployment is flagged as a risk to further gains [1].

Regional concentration

• About 57% of India's poor live in the contiguous UP–West Bengal belt [1].
• As national poverty falls, the remaining poor become more spatially concentrated, and national averages hide these pockets [1].

Critical caveats

• Vulnerability: about 13.5% of Indians sit between $3.00 and $4.20 a day [1]. An illness, a crop failure or the end of free rations could push them back.
• Measurement: HCES 2022-23 changed its survey design and now imputes free items [3]. The direction of the fall is clear, but its size is less certain.
• Projections: NITI's 2013-14 and 2022-23 MPI figures are estimates, not survey readings [2].
• Slowdown: further declines are expected to be more gradual [1].

Overall, India has nearly ended extreme poverty, but large pockets of vulnerability, inequality and regional disadvantage remain. The way forward is to:

• set a new national poverty line based on HCES data;
• collect income data, not just consumption data;
• target the eastern belt through the Aspirational Districts and Blocks programmes;
• invest in skilling for youth.

This would turn poverty reduction into inclusive growth, in line with Article 38(2) and SDGs 1 and 10.