Breaking Stereotypes: Sudden Secret Millionaires in India (5 photos)

What does an Indian millionaire look like? All in gold chains, and servants with a sun umbrella follow him. There are some like that, and they even have their own carpets, there are quite a few of them. But the recent digitalization of India has revealed some surprising figures.





Hundreds of millionaires in the country have been identified as... street food vendors. They didn't even have employees, they just stood around for days selling flatbreads and other snacks in unsanitary conditions.

How They Were Exposed

The first was the IT department in the administration of the Indian city of Kanpur. There alone, 250 street vendors were identified who in fact owned millions of rupees.

These were fruit and vegetable sellers, small drugstore owners, grocers, junk dealers and sanitation workers who had managed to evade taxes for years.



Hi, I sell potatoes. AND I'M A MILLIONAIRE

According to the I-T department, these secret millionaires had accumulated and spent a total of over INR 37.5 million on buying properties. The department also found that several scrap dealers owned at least three cars. Many had also bought large tracts of agricultural land in rural areas around the city.

The "bit data" that came to India helped debunk the hidden "poor people". The ownership documents, all the accounts and transfers of these people were compared. It turned out that out of 250 Indian millionaires, they were working without even a license to work in the food trade. They just went to their stall every morning and everyone thought that they had everything properly registered.





It's hard work, good thing they have money. But they're hiding from taxes

To hide their wealth, they bought properties and cars in their family names.

However, they were caught after someone used their PAN card details. This is an identification number assigned to all taxpayers in India.

Similar millionaires with street stalls have been caught in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Urban legends about humble-looking but popular street vendors who are secret millionaires are thriving in major cities in India. So, a new urban legend has gradually emerged in India, that the guy with the flatbreads is a secret millionaire.



From early morning until dusk, I think our fruit stalls are not poor either

This is actually dangerous, because criminals will start attacking simple flatbread vendors, expecting a big payoff from them.

The hard work of a millionaire

Nobody says that street trading is easy and profitable. Street vendors usually work more than 12 hours a day, and are looked down upon by people from higher castes. And the police like to drop in for a bribe so as not to harass them with inspections.



In general, the stereotypical Indian millionaire looks like this. And for good reason, there are thousands of them

So these are really hard-earned millions. And now you can look at the poor guy selling tea differently. He will be richer than you!