A 'New Middle Class' In India: Hurun India Wealth Report

Hurun India Wealth Report 2020 released has identified a novel household category in India – the ‘New Middle Class’ – with an average savings of Rs 20-lakh per annum. These households, the r

BY Realty Plus
Published - Thursday, 18 Mar, 2021

A 'New Middle Class' In India: Hurun India Wealth Report

Hurun India Wealth Report 2020 released has identified a novel household category in India – the ‘New Middle Class’ – with an average savings of Rs 20-lakh per annum. These households, the report says, have major allocation towards physical assets such as primary residential property and automobiles. Hurun India pegs the total number of such cumulative households in India at 633,000. According to Hurun, there are 412,000 dollar-millionaire households / affluent households in India with a networth of at least Rs 7 crore. Hurun Rich Listers have a wealth of Rs 1,000 crore, the report says, and pegs the number of such cumulative households in India at 3,000. At the other end of the spectrum is the ‘Indian middle class’ that has earnings of over Rs 2.5-lakh per annum and a net worth of less than Rs 7 crore. “It is estimated that around 56400,000 families in India fall under this category,” findings of the Hurun India Wealth Report 2020 suggest. The report classifies two broad segments of wealthy households in India – the lower part comprises households having work compensation income, along with fixed deposits, real estate and equity investments as their primary source of income; and the upper segment that has inherited wealth, real estate possessions, primary business earnings and a diverse equity investment portfolio as sources of income. And investing patterns among all these household segments differ. A business-owner – be it a billionaire, international ultra-high networth individual (UHNI), UHNI or an affluent individual – for instance, allocate a higher portion of their wealth towards their primary business activities. “The other major consumers of their investable wealth include cash reserves, equity stocks, and primary residence,” the report says. Similarly, the ‘Stock Market Kings’ invest actively in the stock markets since it is their primary source of revenue. “Nearly two-thirds of their wealth is devoted to stock market investments. Given the scale of these investments, the upper level households in this category, i.e. the international multi-millionaire households and above, hire wealth management firms to look after their investment portfolios,” the report said. Meanwhile, the golden collar / salary-driven households – those households that have been earning an eight-digit salary per annum for at least five years – mostly prefer to invest in a house, followed by cash / stocks. Region-wise, the top 10 states are home to 70.3 per cent of millionaire households in the country. Maharashtra, the report said, has the highest number of millionaires (56,000), followed by Uttar Pradesh (36,000), Tamil Nadu (35,000), Karnataka (33,000) and Gujarat (29,000). City-wise, Mumbai is home to most millionaires (16,933), followed by Delhi (16,000), Kolkata (10,000), Bengaluru (7,582) and Chennai (4,685).