Indian middle class’ wealth swells 284 per cent

The report estimates that 2,080 adults in India have wealth over $50 million and 940 people own more than $100 million. Globally, the number of dollar millionaires is likely to rise by 46.2 per cent over the next five years to 49.3 million adults with India’s share in the global millionaire population expected to account for just 0.61 per cent.

Among the regions, China is likely to see the largest percentage increase, with the number of millionaires increasing by 74 per cent to 23,20,000 lakh while Africa is likely to be the next performing region, with millionaires rising by 73 per cent albeit from a lower base.

Overall, emerging markets (low to middle-income economies) account for 6.5 per cent of millionaires and will see their share rise to 7.4 per cent by the end of the decade.

Middle-class’s wealth in India grew at a scorching pace of 283.7 per cent between the years 2000- 2015, but was much lower than China’s growth at 618.4 per cent. According to the report, Philippines, Columbia, Russia, Australia, Korea and Singapore are some of the other countries that saw a healthy rate of growth in the total wealth of the middle class between the years 2000- 2015.

As in many other developing countries, personal wealth in India is dominated by property and other real assets, which make up 86 per cent of estimated household assets.

The report highlighted that while wealth has been rising strongly in India and the ranks of the middle class and wealthy have been swelling, not everyone has shared in this growth and there is still a great deal of poverty. This is reflected in the fact that 95 per cent of the adult population has wealth below $10,000.