Dubai: India is set to become home to nearly a million millionaires within the next decade.
The country will have 950,000 millionaires by 2027, up almost 190 per cent from 330,000 last year, according to a recent report by Johannesburg-based market research group New World Wealth.
The report said the rise would mainly be due to competitive wages, strong economic growth, and an increasing number of entrepreneurs.
Just over 10 years ago, in 2007, the country had only 124,000 high net worth individuals, or people with net assets worth $1 million (Dh3.67 million) or more.
However, India’s list of millionaires has more than doubled in the past decade, and it’s just getting better. In 2017, high-net-worth individuals held $3.9 billion (Dh14.3 billion), or 48 per cent of India’s estimated $8.2 billion (Dh30.1 billion) wealth, according to New World Wealth. This wealth is set to triple in the next decade to $25 billion (Dh91.8 billion) by 2027.
Many of the latest millionaires are young entrepreneurs, with companies that have acquired multi-billion dollar valuations – some of these include Ritesh Agarwal of hotel group OYO and Kunal Bahl, co-founder of e-commerce player Snapdeal.
In fact, some entrepreneurs like Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma have even made it to the billionaire’s club.
According to the World Economic Forum, most of India’s ultra-rich reside in Mumbai. The country’s financial capital is home to 28 per cent of the country’s 119 billionaires, which is twice as many as those in the national capital Delhi.
At the end of 2017, holding shares in businesses they helped build was the most favoured investment channel for Indian high net worth individuals, making up for a quarter of their assets. Cash and bonds, real estate and equities accounted for over 21 per cent.
As per the report, one in five of these Indians held properties abroad, with London, New York, Singapore and Dubai seen as popular destinations for second homes.
