New Delhi: While the average personal wealth per adult in India has risen by nearly 300% since 2000, not everyone has reaped the benefits of the economic prosperity, according to a new global report on wealth inequality.
While 0.6% of Indian adults enjoy a net worth of $1,00,000, as much as 91% continue to languish at the bottom of the pyramid with personal wealth of less than $10,000, according to the latest Credit Suisse report on global wealth.
On an average, property and other real estate assets account for 91% of Indians’ personal wealth.
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Indians’s average wealth grew by a decent 8% between 2000 and 2007 before falling 26% in 2008, a temporary blip caused by the global financial meltdown.
The growth in personal wealth bounced back in 2009 and has grown at the average rate of 7% since then. The average wealth of Indians at the middle of this year is estimated at $7,020.
On the other hand, personal debts are estimated at $840, or just gross assets.
While indebtedness remains a severe problem for many poor households, the overall household debt as a proportion of gross assets in India is lower than in most of the developed countries, said the document titled “Global Wealth Report 2018”.
Thousands of new millionaires
Adding further to concerns over rising inequality, India created a whopping 7,300 more millionaires during the 12 months to mid-2018, taking the total number of dollar-millionaires to 3.43 lakh, who are collectively worth around $6 trillion, says the report.
According to Credit Suisse, the country is home to one of the highest proportions of female billionaires at 18.6% during the period, among the major countries.
“By mid-2018, there were an estimated 3,43,000 millionaires in India, a rise of 7,300,” the report said, adding of these, 3,400 have wealth over $50 million, while 1,500 of them have wealth over $100 million each.
As many as 404,000 adults are in the top 1% of global wealth holders. Together, they account for 0.8% of global wealth.
Other global research reports have also flagged concern over India’s growing income inequality.
For example, a new report released by the World Inequality Lab last December underlined that income inequality in India had reached historically high levels in India since the 1980s when economic and trade liberalisation began in the country.
According to the report, the top 10% of the India population had 56% share in the national income in 2014.
As per the Credit Suisse report, global wealth increased by 4.6% in 12 months to June this year, compared to the preceding one year. North America reported the highest growth of 6.5% in personal wealth, followed by Europe 5.5%, Africa 4.4% and Asia Pacific 1.7%.
Latin America was the only region where personal wealth contracted by 4.9%. Country wise, China and India witnessed 4.6% and 2.6% growth in wealth, respectively.
(With inputs from PTI)