India will have over 3 lakh millionaires by 2018

Also, wealth per adult has risen by 135% to $4,700 in 2013

The number of millionaires in India is expected to reach 3.02 lakh by 2018 from 1.82 lakh as of now, says the global wealth report released by the Credit Suisse Research Institute.

The report notes that global wealth across countries increased by 4.9% to $ 241 trillion in 2013.

It further indicates that the wealth in India rose by 7.4% to $ 3.6 trillion in mid-2013. India’s wealth has seen rapid growth since the year 2000.

Wealth per adult in India has risen by 135% from $ 2,000 in 2000 to $ 4,700 in 2013, at an average rate of 8%. This wealth per adult in India is expected to touch $ 6,600 by 2018 rising at 9.3% CAGR respectively.

Along with most countries in the developing world, personal wealth in India is heavily skewed towards property and other real assets, which make up 86% of the household assets.

Toral Munshi, Credit Suisse Head of India equity research, wealth management says, “High net worth individuals in India have a lot money concentrated in other assets like gold, fixed income. Their equity allocations have not grown substantially like they did in fixed income products. Amongst the fixed income products, fixed maturity plans are the flavour of the season as they look more attractive due to the recent spike in short term rates.”

Currently, just about 0.4% of the Indian population has a net worth over $ one lakh. However, due to India's large population, this translates into 2.8 million people. India has just about 1% of global wealth holders which equates to a 0.5% share.

On the global level, North America became the world's wealthiest region for the first time since 2005, gaining 11.9%, reaching $78.9 trillion. Japan is the only country where the household wealth dropped by 20.5% on the back of a 22% depreciation in the Japanese Yen.

Over the next five years, the report forecasts global wealth to rise by 39% to $334 trillion by 2018 at an annual growth rate of 6.7%. The Asia-Pacific region will remain the largest contributor for creating wealth. In addition, the number of  millionaires globally could exceed 47 million by 2018.

The report defines net-worth or wealth as the value of financial assets plus real estate minus household debt. It covers 216 countries with a total population of 7.15 billion.