India currently has 759 millionaires which is projected to grow by 56% to reach 1,186 in 2024, shows Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2019. United States has the highest number of millionaires at 18,614 which is expected to reach 22,930 in 2024. China, Japan and UK trail at 4,447, 3,025 and 2,460 respectively.
Growth in personal wealth in India
The report notes that India’s wealth has grown tremendously since the turn of the century, although there was a setback in 2008 due to the global financial crisis and there have been bumps due to currency fluctuations.
Annual growth of wealth per adult averaged 11% over 2000–19. Prior to 2008, wealth rose strongly, from $ 2,127 in 2000 to $ 6,378 in 2007. After falling 29% in 2008, it rebounded and grew at an average rate of 12% up to 2019. Wealth per adult is estimated at USD 14,569 in mid-2019 after a year of moderate growth.
Personal wealth in India is dominated by property and other real assets, which make up the bulk of household assets.
Personal debts stand at $ 1,345, or just 8% of gross assets. Thus, although indebtedness is a severe problem for many poor people in India, overall household debt as a proportion of assets is lower than in most developed countries.
Non-financial assets in India grew by 6.9% while financial assets grew by a slower pace of 1.4%. At the same time, Indian household’s debt grew by 11.5%. Household wealth in India stood at $ 12,614 billion, which is 3% of the total household wealth worldwide at $360,603 billion.
Worldwide, household wealth grew by $ 9,087 billion. India contributed $ 625 billion or 7% to this growth. North America contributed the highest $ 4,061 billion or 45% in this growth.
At the other extreme, a small fraction of the population (1.8% of adults) has a net worth over $ 100,000. However, owing to India’s large population, this translates into 15.6 million people. The country has 8.27 lakh adults in the top 1% of global wealth holders, which is a 1.6% share. Around 4,460 adults have wealth over $ 50 million and 1,790 have more than $ 100 million.
“While wealth has been rising in India, not everyone has shared in this growth. There is still considerable wealth poverty, reflected in the fact that 78% of the adult population has wealth below USD 10,000,” states the report.
Global wealth per adult
Although wealth per adult reached a new record high of $ 70,850, this is only 1.2% above the level of mid-2018. The report shows that more than half of all adults worldwide have a net worth below $ 10,000, nearly 1% of adults are millionaires who collectively own 44% of global wealth.
The bottom half of wealth holders collectively accounted for less than 1% of total global wealth in mid-2019, while the richest 10% own 82% of global wealth and the top 1% alone own 45%. However, the trend toward increasing inequality has been easing since the peak of 2016.
