Where will you find the richest Indians?

The skyline of Mumbai – the richest city in the country

As the New World Wealth report surfaces, Mumbai emerged as the richest Indian city with a total wealth of USD 820 billion leaving behind the capital of India, Delhi or the IT hub, Bengaluru.

India is a poor country with rich people. A satirical statement that has been testified quite often by various reports now! In a country that is still fighting poverty in the root level have more than 50 billionaires and close to 90,000 millionaires only in the metro cities. The latest New World Wealth report has pointed out that Mumbai, the financial capital is home to 46,000 millionaires and 28 billionaires. The report finds Mumbai as the richest city in the country followed by Delhi and Bengaluru.

The New World Wealth report found Delhi is home to 23,000 millionaires and 18 billionaires with total wealth of USD 450 billion, while Bengaluru has 7,700 millionaires and 8 billionaires and an aggregate wealth of USD 320 billion. Among the other metro cities, Hyderabad comes next in the list. Home to 9,000 millionaires and 6 billionaires, the capital of south Indian state Telangana houses a total wealth of USD 310 billion. The western Indian city Pune has a total wealth of USD 180 billion with 4,500 millionaires and 5 billionaires. The total wealth held in India as of December 2016 amounts to USD 6.2 trillion, while the country is home to 264,000 millionaires and 95 billionaires, the report added.

Kolkata with a combined wealth of USD 290 billion and Chennai with USD 150 billion come next in the list. According to the report, India’s growth prospects in the next decade are high catalysed by some of the major sectors such as financial services, information technology, healthcare, real estate and media. Local hospital services and health insurance found a special mention in the report.

High net worth individuals (HNWIs)

The report has found the number of millionaires or High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) referring to those who have net assets of USD 1 million or more. Some of the affluent suburbs in these metros would help a reader understand the habitation of these people. In Mumbai, the HNWIs are mostly found in Bandra, Juhu, Goregaon, Parel, Worli, Palm Beach Road. In Delhi, the HNWIs are mostly nestled in Westend Greens, Dera Mandi, Greater Kailash, and Lutyens. Similarly, the millionaires of Kolkata lives in Ballygunge and Alipore while in Chennai they are in Boat Club Road and Poes Garden.

Inference of richness

While the demonetised and remonetised country is trying to cope up with the pace of globalisation in almost all the sectors, investment and procurement of wealth in the country has become sensitive, at least for a while. Therefore, there is an element of sluggish growth in the above-mentioned industries apart from the information technology over the last six months. They have hardly anything to do with the richness report although the major players in the industry have their wealth clocking in the report. One can infer that new ventures have a huge possibility in India but there remain challenges which are still unforeseen.

Mumbai is hailed as the commercial capital of India not only because of its geographical supremacy but also due to the fact that the city has over the years remained a hub of enterprises that lead the nation. Elections, financial crunch, socio-political unrest and latest digital economy drive have certainly pulled the harness, but not so tightly that the city will lose its business-like character.