India's wealth in FY18 grew at a modest 2.6% on weak rupee: Credit Suisse

Wealth per adult flat at $7,020; Global wealth grew by 4.6% to $137 trillion

India’s wealth grew at a modest pace of 2.6 per cent to $6 trillion and wealth per adult remained flat at $7,020 during the 12-months to mid-2018, according to Credit Suisse Research Institute’s (CSRI’s) 2018 Global Wealth Report.  

 

Global wealth grew by 4.6 per cent, or $14 trillion, to $317 trillion during the same period. The pace of global growth outpaced world population growth, said CSRI. 

 

Globally, wealth per adult grew by 3.2 per cent to a record high $63,100 per adult. 

 

India’s tepid growth was due to the rupee weakness. For the period under consideration the rupee depreciated by six per cent against the US dollar.    

 

In constant currency terms, India ’s growth in India’s total wealth was 9.7 per cent.   

 

About 91 per cent of household assets in India comprise of property and other real assets. 

 

For the 12 month period to mid-2018, non-financial assets grew by 4.3 per cent, accounting for “all of the wealth growth in India”, says CSRI. 

 

The global wealth report says that the number of millionaires in India rose by 7,300 to 343,000. India has sixth highest number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNI) at 3,400. UHNIs are those with wealth of more than  $50 million.

 

The top five countries with highest number of UHNIs are US, China, Germany, UK and Japan.  

 

CSRI estimates India’s wealth to grow at eight per cent per annum to $8.8 trillion by 2023.

 

The number of millionaires are also estimated to increase by 53 per cent to 526,000 in the next five years.

 

CSRI wealth report estimates women’s share of global wealth to be around 40 per cent. However, in case of India women’s share could be significantly lower between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.   

 

However, among major countries, India has one of the highest proportion of female billionaires at 18.6 per cent, says CSRI.   

Meanwhile, the US contributed most to global wealth, adding  $6.3 trillion. The total wealth for the world’s largest economy stood at $98 trillion. US’s total wealth and wealth per adult has increased every year since 2008. 

 

China now has the second largest household wealth, having added $2.3 trillion to $52 trillion. China’s wealth is projected to grow by a further $23 trillion in the next five years. Its share of global wealth is projected to increase from 16 per cent in 2018 to more than 19 per cent in 2023. 

 

“The United States and China are the obvious outperformers and drivers of wealth growth, despite rising trade tensions. Currency depreciation against the US dollar continues to affect wealth trends in some of the major regional economies such as Australia and India,” said John Woods, chief investment officer Asia Pacific for Credit Suisse.

 

CSRI report said Asia Pacific countries continue to make significant contribution to global high net worth wealth pool, with China, Japan, Australia, Korea and Taiwan making up more than 8.8 million millionaires, representing over 20 per cent of the global total.   

 

Switzerland remained the richest nation in the world in terms of wealth per adult at $530,240 in mid-2018, followed by Australia ($411,060), with Singapore (USD 283,120) ranking ninth.