India added nearly two ultra-rich a day in 2014

India jumps to fourth from thirteen in the list of countries having households with more than $100 mn private wealth.

Luxurious car makers BMW and Mercedes –Benz have more potential buyers in India than their home country Germany. India added 644 ultra-rich in 2014, taking the total number of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) households to 928.

This works out to adding two ultra-rich a day in 2014. 

According to the Global Wealth report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), private wealth in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) grew 29 per cent in 2014 to reach $47 trillion. This enabled the region to surpass eastern and western Europe combined as the second-largest regional pool for private wealth. 

The report also suggests that with a projected $57 trillion in 2016, Asia-Pacific would surpass North America ($56 trillion projected) as the wealthiest region in the world. 

According to BCG’s estimates, India has 928 UHNW households of those having more than $100 million of private wealth, which is higher than Germany’s 679 households. This puts India and Germany at fourth and fifth positions, respectively. In 2013, India was at a distinct 13th position in the list. 

This shows a huge market in India for products and services for the super-rich, such as fancy cars and luxury hotels. 

While the US still has the highest number of UNHW with 5,201 households, the numbers for China (1,037) and the UK (1,019) do not have a big difference from India’s number of 928. 

Growth in wealth in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) region was driven heavily by the continued economic expansion of its two largest economies - China and India. 

“Strong market performance across the entire region... significantly increased the value of existing assets, which accounted for 76 per cent of the region’s growth in private wealth, compared with the increase stemming from newly created wealth,” said the report. 

Global private financial wealth grew nearly 12 per cent in 2014 to reach a total of $164 trillion. Globally, some three-quarters ($13 trillion, or 73 per cent) of private wealth growth in 2014 was generated by the market performance of existing assets, with the balance ($5 trillion, or 27 per cent) generated by newly created wealth. 

Western Europe lagged the new world in terms of macro-economic performance. GDP growth in Western European countries was low—with Ireland’s growth rate the highest at six per cent - as questions surrounding the future of Greece lingered and signs of economic recovery in countries such as Italy and Spain remained rather weak.