Wealth Migration: 7,000 Indian Millionaires Moved Out in 2017

The number of millionaires in India is growing strongly. Image used for representational purpose.

(Photo: iStock)

India witnessed the second largest number of millionaire outflow globally after China, with 7,000 high net worth individuals changing their domicile during 2017, 16 percent more than 2016, according to a report.

According to the report by New World Wealth, 7,000 ultra- rich Indians shifted overseas in 2017. In 2016, the figure stood at 6,000, while in 2015 as many as 4,000 millionaires shifted base.

Globally, as many as 10,000 super-rich Chinese changed their domicile in 2017. Other countries that witnessed large high net worth individual (HNWis) outflows include Turkey (6,000), United Kingdom (4,000), France (4,000) and Russian Federation (3,000).

As per the migration trends, Indian HNWIs moved to the US, the UAE, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while Chinese HNWIs moved to the US, Canada and Australia.

The report, however, noted that the outflows of HNWIs from India and China are not “concerning”, as these countries are producing far more new HNWIs than they are losing.

"Also, once the standard of living in these countries improves, we expect several wealthy people to move back," it added.

On the other hand, Australia was the top country for HNWI inflows in 2017, with 10,000 ultra-rich people shifting base to this country, beating out its main rival – the US – for the third year running.

Over the past 10 years, total wealth held in Australia has risen by 83 percent compared to 20 percent growth in the US. As a result, the average Australian is now significantly wealthier than the average US citizen, which was not the case 10 years ago.

Report.

The US was the second most popular destination for migrating HNWIs in 2017 at 9,000, followed by Canada (5,000) and United Arab Emirates (5,000).

As per the report, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of USD 8,230 billion.

India is home to 3,30,400 HNWIs (individuals with USD 1 million or more in net assets). Globally, India was ranked ninth in this aspect. The country has 20,730 multi-millionaires, seventh largest in the world. And in terms of resident billionaires, India with 119 such individuals was named among the top three countries globally, after the US and China.

A billionaire is defined as an individual with net assets of USD 1 billion or more.

Global wealth migration is accelerating and around 95,000 millionaires (HNWIs) migrated in 2017, compared to 82,000 in 2016 and 64,000 in 2015.

Report