Number of millionaires may rise 53% to 84,000 in India by 2017: report

As many as 84,000 Indians are expected to become millionaires by 2017, according to a global wealth report.

"India is likely to see a substantial jump of 53 per cent in the number of millionaires to 84,000 by 2017," Credit Suisse Research Institute's Global Wealth Report said.

According to the report, the number of millionaires in emerging economies is expected to jump substantially in the next few years. China could see its number double by 2017 to almost 2 million, it said.

However, the report warns that India still sees a significant amount of poverty. “While wealth has been rising strongly, and the ranks of the middle class and wealthy have been swelling, not everyone has shared this growth and there is still a great deal of poverty," the report said.

The report states that 95 per cent of India’s population has wealth below $10,000. In comparison, only a small proportion of the population (just 0.3 per cent) has a net worth over $100,000.

According to Credit Suisse, India has 237,000 members of the top 1 per cent of global wealth holders. There are 1,500 Ultra-High net-worth individuals (UHNW) with wealth over $50 million and 700 members with more than $100 million.

Falling growth rate has seen India shedding $700 billion from its household wealth during mid-2011 to mid-2012 period, the steepest in Asia, the report said, adding that this amounts to 50 per cent of the total erosion that the continent has seen.

"There's no question that the economic uncertainties of the past year - particularly those affecting the Eurozone - have cast a huge shadow over household wealth," Credit Suisse said.

From mid-2011 to mid-2012, aggregate global household wealth fell by 5.2 per cent in current dollar terms to $223 trillion due to the economic uncertainties, particularly those affecting the Eurozone.

During the period under consideration, Eurozone members suffered the largest losses, led by France ($2.2 trillion), Italy ($2.1 trillion), Germany ($1.9 trillion) and Spain ($870 billion).

Moreover, there was also a significant rise in household debt, which rose in aggregate by 81 per cent from 2000-2012.

However, despite the setbacks in 2007 and the recent slowdown, household wealth has grown strongly over the past decade. The global aggregate doubled from $113 trillion, recorded at the start of the millennium, the report said.

A similar kind of uptrend was witnessed in the case of India as well, where aggregate wealth more than tripled during 2000 to 2011.

The report further states that household wealth is expected to rise by almost 50 per cent in the next five years from $223 trillion in 2012 to $330 trillion in 2017 and the number of millionaires worldwide would reach 46 million in 2017.