India sees trebling of millionaires
The number of high net worth people living in India is set to nearly treble within four years, one of the fastest growth rates of such individuals in the world.
The Indian market for individuals with bankable assets of more than $1m (€634m) is showing annual growth of 30% and is expected to rise from 120,000 last year to 300,000 in 2012.
Shiv Khazanchi, managing director and head of Standard Chartered Private Bank, India, described India’s growth as “rocketing” He added: “The number of wealthy resident Indians is the fastest growing in the world.”
The number of millionaires resident in India’s fellow Bric countries, Russia and China, is also set to see dramatic growth. China, despite its massive population, only has around 22,000 millionaires at present, although this will grow to around 215,500 by 2012. But according to Barclays Wealth, “the density of millionaires in China will remain largely unchanged over the next decade, which will cause its wealth ranking to fall”.
Russia has 17,000 households with wealth in excess of $1m, which Barclays calls “negligible”. This will grow to about 254,000 by 2012, about 0.5% of the country.
The comments about the strength of the Indian economy were backed up last week by delegates attending Financial News’ India Investors’ Summit. Pradeep Dokania, head of Merrill Lynch’s Private Bank in India, said: “I expect most of the new wealth generated will be kept in India, as the wealthy people are still not exposed to global opportunities and not inclined to look abroad.”
The conference also heard about growth in other sectors. Mergers and acquisitions activity in India more than trebled last year to a record $91.9bn, compared with $28.7bn in 2006, according to data provider Dealogic.
The largest completed deal was Vodafone’s acquisition of 67% of Hutchison Essar in a deal worth $12.9bn in February. This year it stands to be trumped by the MTN deal, worth up to $45bn. M&A for the year to May 21 was $16.3bn, according to Dealogic.
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