India has one lakh high net worth individuals holding a collective wealth of a phenomenal $350 billion by 2006-end. With a growth rate of twenty per cent India now has the second largest population of HNWIs in Asia-Pacific region. HNWI are people with net financial assets of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residence and consumables. More numbers could have added to this list apart from an increase in assets given the bull-run in the Indian stock market during 2007. A majority of the HNWI are in the age group of 41-55 years. Of these 858 are termed “Ultra-HNWI” for having more than $30 million of financial assets.

“Robust economic growth and strong financial markets, along with gains in income and credit expansion which drove private consumption, were the key drivers of growth in India’s HNWI population”, renowned wealth management company, DSP Merrill Lynch’s head of Global Private Client, Mr Pradeep Dokania said. Merrill Lynch and technology consultant Capgemini published the ‘Asia-Pacific Wealth Report’. The greatest concentration of NRI’s in the Asia-Pacific region is in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. “The performance of the Indian market and the strength of its currency are making India more attractive to NRI investors,” Merrill Lynch’s global head of NRI market Mr Aseem Arora said.

There were 2.6 million HNWIs in Asia Pacific at the end of 2006. Asia-Pacific is home to over 27 per cent of the world’s high net worth population. The wealth of the region’s HNWIs totalled $8.4 trillion in 2006, an increase of 10.5 per cent. HNWI wealth was concentrated in Japan and China, which accounted for 43.7 per cent and 20.6 per cent respectively, of the region’s total wealth