India Home To 4th Largest Population Of High Net Worth Individuals In Asia Pacific: Report

New Delhi: India is home to the fourth largest population of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the Asia Pacific region, with total wealth of $797 billion, says a report.

The number of HNWIs in India jumped to 2 lakh last year from 1.8 lakh in 2014, while their overall wealth rose by 1.6 per cent during the same period, according to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report 2016, a report by Capgemini on Thursday.

Japan has the maximum number of HNWI population in Asia-Pacific at over 27 lakh followed by China at more than 10 lakh in 2015 and Australia 2.3 lakh.

The HNWI wealth in Japan rose by 11.4 per cent to $6,571 billion, while that in China surged 16.9 per cent to $5,261 billion.

One year after recording the highest population of high net worth individuals (HNWI), Asia-Pacific region now leads the world with the largest amount of HNWI wealth, according to the report.

Asia-Pacific HNWI wealth grew 9.9 per cent in 2015 to $17.4 trillion, growing 5.8 times the 1.7 per cent 'Rest of the World (RoW)' growth rate.

HNWI population grew by 9.4 per cent to surpass 5 million, growing 3.5 times the RoW growth rate of 2.7 per cent. 

If growth rates of the last decade sustain through the next one, the region's HNWI wealth could surpass $42 trillion by 2025, the report added.

Equity and real estate gains remain by far the strongest pillars supporting this rise in HNWI wealth in Asia-Pacific, overcoming tepid GDP growth in China, a stagnant Japanese economy, and uneven EU and US recoveries, impacting export-dependent emerging Asia.

Yet, China and Japan drove more than 90 per cent of Asia-Pacific's, and 60 per cent of the global, HNWI wealth growth adding more than twice as much ($1.43 trillion) as all the other regions outside Asia-Pacific combined. These two Asian powerhouses increased the number of HNWIs by 1.5 times the amount as the rest of the world to top 4,13,000.

"With Asia-Pacific now recognized as having both the most High Net Worth Individuals and as being the region with the highest net worth individual wealth, the challenge for the wealth management industry in the region will be to build assets under management," said Anirban Bose, Head of Banking and Capital Markets, Capgemini.

"Traditional investing behaviour in Asia-Pacific is to hold a significant portion of their assets in cash but there is now opportunity for goal-based financial planning with a focus on growth to attract more investment," he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)