Mumbai leads by far as home to India’s mega-rich

Mumbai, India's financial capital, has by far the largest number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the country, at 1,094, followed by Delhi with 545, according to property services firm Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2016 released on Wednesday.

The report says UHNWIs in Mumbai will double to 2,243 and those of Delhi to 1,128 by the next decade.

Over the past 10 years, the billionaire count (with net worth of $1 billion or more) in India jumped 333 per cent to 78 persons from 18 in 2006. The global growth in the number of billionaires during the past 10 years has been much lower at 68 per cent. There are an estimated 1,919 billionaires in the world at present.

In the past decade, India's UHNWI count rose 340 per cent to 6,020 persons, whereas global growth was 61 per cent to 187,468, the report noted.

''India will account for five per cent of the total UHNWI population and six per cent of the billionaire population across the world by 2025,'' the report said.

According to the report, Indians have scored in property ownership. The average number of residential properties owned by wealthy Indians stands at four, which is the highest in the world. The global average stands at 3.7, the report notes.

''Among Indian cities, Mumbai leads the pack followed by New Delhi. Going forward, Mumbai will continue to maintain its number one position, but the rate of growth in UHNWI population will be marginally higher in New Delhi than in Mumbai,'' said Samantak Das, chief economist at Knight Frank.

 Out of 97 global cities, Mumbai and Delhi are currently ranked at 21 and 33 respectively. These are pegged to move up to 14th and 29th slots respectively, by 2025.