Mumbai home to most number of billionaires in India: report

With 1094 billionaires, Mumbai leads the country, followed by Delhi at a distant second with 545

Mumbai leads the country with 1,094 ultra high networth individuals, followed by Delhi with 545, said a latest Knight Frank Wealth Report. The next decade will see Mumbai increase to 2243 and Delhi to 1128 UHNWIs, the report released on Wednesday said.

In the last 10 years, billionaire count (with $1 billion networth or more) in India jumped by 333% to 78 persons from 18 in 2006. The global growth in the number of billionaires during the last 10 years has been much lower at 68%. There are an estimated 1,919 billionaires in the world at present.

In property ownership, Indians have scored. Average number of residential properties owned by wealthy Indians stands at 4, which is highest in the world. The global average stands at 3.7, according to the report.

"Among Indian cities, Mumbai leads the pack followed by New Delhi. Going forward, Mumbai will continue to maintain its number one position but the rate of growth in UHNWI population will be marginally higher in New Delhi than in Mumbai,” said Samantak Das, chief economist at Knight Frank.

Out of 97 cities globally, Mumbai and Delhi currently ranked at 21 and 33 respectively; they are slated to move up to ranks 14 and 29 respectively by 2025.

In the last 10 years, UHNWI count in India rose by 340% to 6,020 persons whereas global growth was just 61% to 1,87,468.

“India will account for 5% of the total UHNWI population and 6% of the billionaire population• across the world by 2025,” it said.