As per new data released by Credit Suisse Research Institute, the top 1 per cent of India's population owns 58.4 per cent of the country's wealth. The wealth share of India's richest has seen a sharp surge from 53 per cent share in 2015 and 49 per cent in 2014. In 2016, India stands next to Russia where the top 1 per cent own 74.5 per cent of the country's wealth.
Other BRICS countries fare better than India. The top 1 per cent in China owns 43.8 per cent of the country's wealth, and the corresponding wealth share for the richest in Brazil is 47.9 per cent. In South Africa, the top 1 per cent own 41.9 per cent of the country's wealth. The inequality can be seen in India's wealth share date for top 10 per cent of the population, which owns 80.7 per cent of the country's wealth.
According to the report, the country has 2,48,000 adults in the top 1 per cent of global wealth holders, constituting a share of 0.5 per cent. The growth in wealth has been uneven in India with 96 per cent of the adult population at the base of the wealth pyramid with wealth below $10,000. It added that only a small fraction of the adult population of 0.3 per cent has net worth over $100,000. The number of millionaires remained flat at 178,000 with $973 billion in wealth. The number of millionaires are at 178,000 with $973 billion in wealth. Among them, ultra-high-net worth individuals grew 5.2 per cent to 2,260, including 1,040 with more than $100 million.
Wealth in India in local currency terms increased 5.1 per cent in 2016, while in dollar terms, it decreased by 0.8 per cent to $3.099 trillion in 2016. Annual growth of wealth per adult in rupees has averaged 6 per cent during 2000-2016.
