A wealth report published by Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Wealth Management shows that India has the fastest growing population and wealth of High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in the world in 2014.
HNWIs are defined as those having investable assets of US$1million or more, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.
The report found that India is home to 1.98 lakh HNWIs as on December 2014. The population of such individuals has grown by 26% from 1.56 lakh in December 2013 to 1.98 lakh in December 2014. In 2009, India had only 1.27 lakh UHNIs.
In terms of HNWIs wealth, India has recorded a growth of 28% i.e. from US$612 billion in 2013 to US$785 billion in 2014.
“India emerged as a key driver of Asia-Pacific’s growth in 2014. India recorded the highest growth rates across the globe for HNWI population (26.3%) and wealth (28.3%) in 2014. A decisive mandate in the mid-2014 election proved critical in creating a more business friendly environment in India. That, combined with sound monetary policies, ushered in a wave of positive investor sentiment. This sentiment led the country’s equity markets to new highs, including a 21.95 increase in the Indian MSCI Index. India also benefited from global decline in oil prices, given that it imports about 70% of its oil. Another positive was a reduction in the retail inflation rate from double digits to mid-single digits,” said the report.
United States remains the wealthiest country with close to 43.5 lakh HNWIs, a growth of 9% compared to over 40 lakh in 2013. It is followed by Japan (24.5 lakh), Germany (11.4 lakh) and China (8.9 lakh). India stood at 11th position in 2014, up from 16th position in 2013 in terms of global ranking.
Meanwhile, the report has forecasted that India and China will continue to be the stand-out stories in Asia-Pacific over the next five to seven years. These two markets represent nearly 10% of global HNWI wealth and account for 17% of the global increase in new wealth since 2006, adding US$3.2 trillion in the past 8 years, said the report.
Also, the report has estimated that global HNWI wealth will grow at a CAGR of 7.7% and cross US$70 trillion by 2017. On the back of growth story of India and China, Asia-Pacific is likely to overtake North America in HNWI population by 2015, estimated the report.
