India is out of the list of top 12 countries with largest HNI population as a significant erosion in equity market in 2011 took a toll on assets and investable wealth of the billionaires, says a report.
The US, Japan and Germany are the top three countries with with the largest high networth individual (HNI) population in the list prepared by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.
China, the UK, France, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Brazil follow them in that order. South Korea replaced India as the 12th member in the list.
India first figured in the coveted list for the first time in 2010.
India had lost a significant number of high networth individuals (HNI) as a sharp plunge in equity market in 2011 wiped out asset values as well as levels of investable wealth of these individuals, said the World Wealth Report.
Indian equity market capitalisation dropped by a whopping 33.4% in 2011, after a gain of 24.9% in 2010. Accordingly, the size of the country's HNI population got reduced by as much as 18%, it said.
The report noted that factors such as increasing budget/ fiscal deficit also contributed to India losing the rank.
"India suffered a slump in its equity market capitalisation and its currency in 2011 as a lack of faith in the political process and the slow pace of domestic reforms disappointed investors," the Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management report said.
Meanwhile, the overall financial wealth of HNIs declined across all regions, barring the Middle-East, where the size of the HNI population rose 2.7% to 0.45 million, and wealth edged up 0.7% to $1.7 trillion.
The number of HNIs in Asia-Pacific expanded 1.6% to 3.37 million in 2011, making Asia-Pacific the largest HNI region for the first time, surpassing North America, which has a HNI population of 3.35 million.
However, North America, still retained the most HNI wealth at $11.4 trillion compared to $10.7 trillion in the Asia-Pacific region, the report said.
"It is significant that for the first time this year there are now more high net worth individuals in Asia-Pacific than in any other region.
"However, losses in key markets such as Hong Kong and India meant that wealth contracted in Asia-Pacific overall." RBC Wealth Management Group Head George Lewis said.
