India among world's top four wealth creators: Boston Consulting

India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, is also among the four major wealth-creating countries in the world. Wealth creation in India is moving at an accelerated pace as well, according to study by Bonston Consulting Group.

The US, China, the UK and India have shown the largest absolute gains in wealth in 2010, management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group said in its `Global Wealth Report.'
    
Boston Consulting estimates global wealth to have grown by a record 9 trillion to $121.8 trillion in 2010, with almost all regions showing positive gains.
    
Global wealth is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.9 per cent between end-2010 and 2015, to about $162 trillion, according to Tjun Tang, BCG partner and co-author of the study.
 
He said the increase in wealth is being driven by a strong capital market combined with the growth of GDP of individual countries, mainly in emerging markets.

Strong performance of the financial markets accounted for the lion's share (59 per cent) of growth in assets under management. From the end of year 2008 through 2010, the share of wealth held in equities increased from 29 per cent to 35 per cent, BCG said.
 
"Wealth will grow fastest in emerging markets. In India and China, for example, it is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 18 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively," Tang said.

He projected the Asia-Pacific region's share of global wealth (ex Japan) to rise from 18 per cent in 2010 to 23 per cent in 2015.

Japan's wealth, on the contrary, is expected to decrease slightly in 2011 and then pick up momentum, although at a slower pace - due mainly to the recent disaster.
    
North America, the study noted, had $38.2 trillion in assets under management, nearly one-third of the global wealth in 2010.
    
In Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) wealth grew at the fastest rate, at 17.1 per cent, whereas in the Middle East and Africa, it grew at a slow 8.6 per cent, Latin American wealth grew at 8.2 per cent.
    
The number of millionaire households increased by 12.2 per cent in 2010 to about 12.5 million, BCG said.

The US had the largest number of millionaire households (5.2 million), followed by Japan, China, the UK, and Germany, while Singapore continued to have the highest concentration of millionaire households.

Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were among the six densest millionaire populations in the Middle East, BEG said in its report.

US also has the largest number of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) households (with more than $100 million in assets) at 2,692.
      
Saudi Arabia has highest UHNW concentration at 18 per 100,000 households, followed by Switzerland (10), Hong Kong (9), Kuwait (8), and Austria (8).