Wealth per adult in India in rupee terms grew quite steadily, averaging an 8 per cent annual increase over 2000-2014, and touched all-time high of $5,760 in constant currency in mid-2014, as per the fifth annual Global Wealth Report released by the Credit Suisse Research Institute.
However, due to depreciation of the Indian currency at an absolute level it failed to regain its previous peak of $5,400 in US dollar terms in 2010 and was pegged at $4,650 as of July 2014.
“Our report indicates that a small proportion of the Indian population (0.3 per cent) has a net worth over $100,000. However, due to India's large population, this translates into 2.8 million people. Over the last decade itself, the number of people with net worth between $100,000 to 1 million, has doubled from 1.3 million to 2.6 million. India has a significant number of members in the top wealth, 238,000 members of the top 1 per cent of global wealth holders, which equates to a 0.5 per cent share,” Toral Munshi, Credit Suisse Head of India Equity Research, Wealth Management, said, while commenting on growth in wealth in India.
Besides, household wealth in India is expected to rise by over 50 per cent by 2019, but could be surpassed if there are fundamental economic reforms. On a per-adult basis, the growth rate will be well above the global average, rising by 37 per cent to $6,400 per adult.
Emerging markets other than China and India account for 9 per cent of global wealth, and could grow by 46 per cent, enabling wealth per adult to rise by 33 per cent to $15,500.
On the other side, global wealth per adult rose to $56,000 as of mid-2014, the highest rise recorded since the 2008 financial crisis despite an ongoing challenging economic environment. In dollar terms, the aggregate global household wealth increased by 8.3 per cent in current dollar terms to $263 trillion, the report added.
“The fifth annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report shows a $20.1 trillion rise in wealth to $263 trillion. North America and Europe stand out this year, with percentage gains exceeding 10 per cent in both cases. Developing economies have lagged as a result of weaker asset prices and currency pressures,” Giles Keating, Global Head of Research for Private Banking & Wealth Management, Credit Suisse, said in the report.
The report says the number of millionaires has increased significantly since 2000, rising by 164 per cent over the period, to 34.8 million individuals today. While the US leads with 41 per cent of global millionaires, the number of people with over $1 million assets in India has risen from 76,000 in 2000 to 182,000 as of 2014.
The number of ultra high net-worth individuals or UHNIs with net assets exceeding $50 million rose to 128,000 against 41,000 in 2000. India in particular had 1,772 UHNIs as per the report.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
