India to see 1,000 UHNWIs joining annually

TRACKING TRENDS Mumbai jumps 10 places in future wealth; pips Paris, Dubai, Chicago

Mumbai, March 1: The annual increase in the number of ultra high networth individuals (UHNWIs) in the country is all set to double during the next decade, a report said.

There will be an addition of 1,000 UHNWIs annually in the country over the next decade. In the last 10 years, the country has seen additions of around 500 new UHNWIs or those with $30 million or more in net assets annually.

Similarly, Mumbai, which currently ranks 21st among 40 global cities has improved its position to 11 in the ‘future wealth’ category, a report by Knight Frank said here on Wednesday.

The country houses 2 per cent of the world's millionaires (13.6 mn) and 5 per cent of world's billionaires (2,024).

The report tracks the growing super-rich population in 125 cities across 89 countries. This year's survey results are based on responses from almost 900 of the world's leading private bankers and wealth advisors.

“Over the last 10 years we have seen annually 500 new UHNWIs being added in India and we expect this number to double to 1000 every year in the coming decade,” Samantak Das, chief economist and national director-research, Knight Frank India said.

“Out of 40 global cities, Mumbai ranks 11 in terms of future wealth accumulation ahead of Chicago, Sydney, Paris, Seoul and Dubai,” he said.

According to Mr Das, in terms of real estate sector investment, the wealthy Indians have expressed their top priority in the office segment and logistics also sees a three-fold rise.

Even though the residential market in the country is reeling under pressure, 40 per cent of wealthy Indians are likely to invest in residential property in India in the next two years while 25 per cent are keen on overseas avenues, he added.

Talking about the impact of Donald Trump, the new President of the USA and the note-ban, on the country's UHNWIs, he said that though there is no direct impact visible, still indirectly they have been affected badly.

“Third quarter (OctoberDecember) result shown by at least 5-6 information technology companies’ growth rate has come down to 9-10 per cent from around 30 per cent as had been registered by them during the first two quarters of the fiscal. Moreover, all those IT companies have reduced their future growth target too,” he said.