Number of millionaire households in India swells to 1.75 lakh

India had 1,75,000 millionaire households in 2013, ranking 15th in the world, where the total number of millionaire households rose to 16.3 million last year, according to a wealth report prepared by the Boston Consulting Group.

The 14th annual report on the global wealth-management industry, 'Riding a Wave of Growth: Global Wealth 2014' said global private financial wealth grew by 14.6 per cent in 2013 to reach a total of $152 trillion.

The rise was stronger than in 2012, when global wealth grew by 8.7 per cent, and equity markets continued to be the key drivers, for the second consecutive year, the report said.

India ranked 15th last year and had 175,000 millionaire households. Its position improved slightly from 2012 when it had ranked 16 in the world for its number of millionaire households.

The number of ultra high net worth (UHNW) households - those with $100 million or more – in India stood at 284 last year.

India is projected to become the seventh wealthiest nation by 2018.

Globally the total number of millionaire households reached 16.3 million in 2013, up from 13.7 million in 2012 and representing 1.1 per cent of all households globally.

The US had the highest number of millionaire households at 7.1 million, as well as the highest number of new millionaires at 1.1 million.

In rapidly growing China, the number of millionaire households increased from 1.5 million in 2012 to 2.4 million in 2013, surpassing Japan where the number of millionaire households fell from 1.5 million to 1.2 million, driven by the 15 per cent fall in the yen against the dollar.

''As the debate over the global polarisation of wealth rages on, one thing is certain: more people are becoming wealthy,'' the report said.

North America at $50.3 trillion and Western Europe at $37.9 trillion remained the wealthiest regions in the world, followed closely by Asia-Pacific at $37 trillion.

The key driver in the rise of private wealth in the Asia-Pacific region has been strong GDP growth over the past five years, especially in China, India, and Indonesia, the report said.

Globally, the amount of wealth held privately rose by $19.3 trillion in 2013, nearly twice the increase of $10.7 trillion seen in 2012.

The highest density of millionaire households was in Qatar (175 out of every 1,000 households), followed by Switzerland (127) and Singapore (100).

The US had the largest number of billionaires, but the highest density of billionaire households was in Hong Kong (15.3 per million), followed by Switzerland (8.5 per million).

UHNW households are projected to hold $13 trillion in wealth by the end of 2018 as their numbers grow at an expected rate of 9.1 per cent over the next five years.