India’s richest 1% of Indians now possess around 58% of the country’s wealth, shows Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2016. The country has 2.48 lakh adults in the top 1% of global wealth holders.
In terms of its own currency, India's wealth has grown quite quickly since the turn of the century, except during the global financial crisis. The annual growth of wealth per adult in rupees has averaged 6% over 2000 – 2016.
While wealth has been rising in India, not everyone has shared this growth. There is still considerable wealth poverty, reflected in the fact that 96% of the adult population has wealth below $ 10,000.
The report shows that overall financial wealth has grown twice as fast as nonfinancial assets since 2009, but has actually underperformed since 2000. The report projects that globally financial assets will outpace non-financial wealth slightly, by around 0.5% annually. But this will benefit economies with a higher share of financial wealth, such as the United States and other developed economies.
However, in case of India, the report suggests that the country will marginally underperform as compared to China due to its preference for non-financial assets. The report shows that real estate is the most preferred choice for Indians to invest. “Personal wealth in India is dominated by property and other real assets, which make up 86% of estimated household assets,” says the report.
Methodology: The survey was carried across 42 countries. The research comprises of two components of wealth – financial and non-financial – separately, but by using the same inputs (GDP and inflation) from the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook database.
