India has 182,000 millionaires, but 94% have wealth below $10,000
10 Oct 2013
India currently has 182,000 millionaires, even as 94 per cent of the country's population has wealth below $10,000, according to a report on global wealth released on Wednesday.
The number of millionaires in the country is expected to jump over 66 per cent to 302,000 by 2018, according to the Annual Global Wealth Report 2013 released by Credit Suisse Research Institute.
''As the world's largest democracy with a strong federal structure and vibrant markets, Indian wealth has seen rapid growth since 2000. Wealth per adult has risen by 135 per cent from $2000 in 2000 to $4,700 in 2013 at an average annual rate of 8 per cent,'' said Toral Munshi, head of India equity research at Credit Suisse.
While only 0.4 per cent of India's population has a net worth of over $100,000, the report said, this, however, translates into 2.8 million people due to the country's large population.
Household wealth in India rose by 7.4 per cent to $3.4 trillion in mid-2013, the report said, adding that wealth per adult in the country is expected to rise at a rate of 9.3 per cent to $6,600 by 2018.
India has 254,000 members among the top 1 per cent of global wealth holders, which equates to a 0.5 per cent share, the report said.
India has 1,760 ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) with wealth over $50 million and 770 UHNWIs with more than $100 million, the report added.
While wealth has been rising in India, not everyone has been part of this growth story and there is still a great deal of poverty.
''This is reflected in the fact that 94 per cent of the adult population has wealth below $10,000,'' the Credit Suisse report said.
Wealth in India increased by 7.4 per cent to $3.6 trillion in mid-2013, while global household wealth increased by nearly 5 per cent year-on-year to reach $241 trillion in mid-2013.
North America overtook Asia Pacific and Europe to be the wealthiest region with an 11.9 per cent wealth growth to $78.9 trillion even as a 22 per cent depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar during the period, resulted in household wealth in Japan dropping 20.5 per cent to $22.6 trillion, leading total wealth in Asia Pacific to decline by 3.7 per cent to $73.9 trillion.
However, Asia Pacific ex-Japan continued to register stable wealth growth of 6.2 per cent to $51.3 trillion in mid-2013, with India registering $3.6 trillion in total wealth, an increase of 7.4 per cent.
Asia Pacific is forecast to see 8.4 per cent annual wealth growth to $110 trillion by 2018, overtaking North America as the world's wealthiest region from 2017.
