ADB data on middle class in India.

Today, Indian newspapers were celebrating rise of Indian middle class as pointed out by ADB.    While the report was overall in positive tone, something looked very fishy to me.

Here is what timesof india and economics times has to say about the report

Only 0.0009% of Indians earn more than Rs 10,000 per month.

somebody must had imagined this data. According to economics times itself

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) query by seasoned RTI campaigner P. Hari Kumar, 24, of Kasaragod in north Kerala, the finance ministry has said that the number of taxpayers has increased from 28.4 million in 2002 to 31.5 million in 2006.

This number itself is 3 % and I think it is fair to assume that  each tax payer represent atleast 2 people and a substantial portion of this population earns more than  20000 Rs.  Thus, I do not see how the percent of Indian earning more than Rs 10000 was 0.0009 is year  2005.  May be economics times and timesofindia should cross check what they report. Regarding original source ADB, I could not see this line in the original report available online.