India's richest have more than doubled their fortunes during the Covid-19 crisis that ravaged the country and worsened poverty, and the government should revisit its policies to redistribute wealth, according to the global Oxfam Davos report of 2022.

The nation added 40 billionaires to 142 last year, when a second wave of infections overwhelmed its health infrastructure and pushed crematoriums and burial grounds to breaking point. They have almost $720 billion in combined fortune, more than the poorest 40 per cent of the population, the group said in a report on rising inequality published on Monday.