significance of the title " The White Tiger"

The title is significant because both Balram and the tiger are distinctive, different beings. The white tiger is a rare breed, and Balram was also marked different and rare because of his intelligence. “That’s what you are (the white tiger), in this jungle.”

As you can see above, the school inspector marked Balram from the beginning as unique (like the white tiger), and Balram succeeded in showing the inspector to be right by achieving succeess against all odds (poverty).