The Indian media has labelled a man who begs for coins on the streets of Mumbai “the world’s richest beggar” because they say he is worth more than $1 million.
Bharat Jain, the ‘world’s richest beggar,’ is said to make between 2,000 and 2,500 rupees, which is about $25 to $30 daily, from kind strangers’ donations, while many people in India work hard all day for a few hundred rupees. For a long time, Jain has been begging in busy Mumbai spots like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station or Azad Maidan, and he has amassed a sizeable fortune as a result.
His assets include a Mumbai flat worth 1.2 crore, or about $1m and two shops in Thane fetching 30,000 rupees, or about $360 in monthly rent, bringing his estimated net worth to roughly 7.5 crore ($1 million).
His monthly income is speculated to range between 60,000 to 75,000 ($731 to $914), which is significantly higher than the average salary of an employed Indian. The Economic Times claims that Bharat Jain begged to make a living because he could not afford to go to college.
But his children won’t be following in his footsteps. They have already graduated from convent institutions and are currently employed.
Jain’s loved ones keep telling him to quit begging since they can make ends meet without his help, yet he keeps hitting the streets on a near-daily basis. Since 2015, when his reputation as a wealthy beggar began to spread, Bharat Jain’s modest earnings have made headlines in India.
