India home of almost 2,19,000 millionaires

India is home to the fourth largest population of millionaires in the Asia Pacific region with 2,19,000 ultra-rich individuals with a combined wealth of USD 877 billion, says a report.

According to the 2017 Asia-Pacific Wealth Report (APWR) released today by Capgemini, India stood at fourth position with its contribution of 4 per cent in terms of individual market share in HNWI population growth in APAC (Asia Pacific) region. High net worth individuals (HNWIs) are defined as those having investible assets of USD 1 million or more, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables. At the end of 2016, there were 28,91,000 millionaires in Japan, while China ranked second with 11,29,000 HNWIs and Australia was at the third place had 2,55,000. Between the period 2015-2016, India's HNWI population witnessed a surge by 9.5 per cent, outbeating the average annual growth rate of 7.4 per cent of APAC. "This was ahead of China and Japan which registered a growth of 9.1 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively, for the same period," the report noted. In terms of HNWI wealth, India witnessed a double-digit growth of 10 per cent for the period 2015-2016, as compared to the annual average growth of 8.2 per cent. "After a sedate HNWI wealth expansion of 1.6 per cent in 2015, India posted double digit HNWI wealth growth of 10 per cent in 2016. This jump was propelled mainly by a rebound in its equity markets and real estate...," the report said. The report further added that "more good news may be on the horizon with improved GDP forecasts for 2017 and 2018 expected to drive further economic growth". The report further noted that while "in India, investor sentiment has remained cautiously confident in the wake of the election of the reformist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the unannounced demonetisation initiative challenges in dealing with significant issues such as unemployment, and the ongoing use of retrospective tax grabs on foreign multi-nationals may have caused some trepidation". For the July-September period of this financial year, the report said that 41 per cent of Indian HNWI's financial assets are held outside the home market. "In terms of geographic spread of asset allocation, Indian HNWI's are largely holding their assets in Singapore (22.2 per cent) Dubai (14.4 per cent) and London (13.4 per cent). The report said Asia-Pacific continued to dominate high net worth individual population and wealth, and is on target to surpass USD 40 trillion in HNWI wealth by 2025. Asia-Pacific remains the global leader in HNWI population and wealth, but its pace slowed slightly in 2016 with population and wealth increasing 7.4 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively, down from 9.4 per cent and 9.9 per cent in 2015.