Buoyant markets push Indian rich to top slot

According to a global wealth report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the private wealth in India is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 21.5 per cent during 2014-2019.

As compared to this, China’s private wealth is projected to grow by 10.3 per cent during the same period while that of Australia and Hong Kong are expected to grow by 6.2 per cent and five per cent respectively.

However, when it comes to the number of wealthy households in 2014, US tops the charts with 5,201 ultra high net worth (UHNW) households followed by China with 1,037 UHNW households. India ranks fourth with 928 UHNW households after UK, which has 1,019 UHNW households.

Globally, North America with $51 trillion in private wealth remained the worlds wealthiest region in 2014. Asia-Pacific region led by China and India overtook Europe (Eastern and Western Europe) to become the world’s second wealthiest region with a total wealth of $47 trillion.

However, in 2016, the private wealth in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to surpass that of North America to become the wealthiest region in the world according to BCG. The region is also expected to hold 34 per cent of global wealth in 2019.

It added that the growth in Asia-Pacific region was driven heavily by the continued economic expansion of its two largest economies, China and India. Overall, strong market performance across the entire region – thanks to solid domestic demand, significantly increased the value of existing assets, which accounted for 76 per cent of the regions growth in private wealth.