India contributes 7% to global wealth rise, says Credit Suisse report

Global wealth has risen by $9 trillion to $360 trillion in 2019, according to the Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI). India has made a contribution of $625 billion (nearly 7% of total) to the global wealth. The biggest contribution has come from the US at $4 trillion (45% of total) and China at $1.9 trillion (21% of total).

The average wealth per adult globally stood at $70,849, according to the 10th edition of the Global Wealth Report published by CSRI. Wealth per adult for India at $14,569 is nearly 80% below the global average. The US and Europe have the highest wealth per adult at $417,694 and $153,973, respectively.

“While wealth has been rising in India, not everyone has shared in this growth. There is still considerable wealth poverty, reflected in the fact that 78% of the adult population has wealth below $10,000,” says the CSRI report.

Interestingly, India is a large contributor to the global wealthy list. “The country has 827,000 adults in the top 1% of global wealth holders, which is a 1.6% share. By our estimates, 4,460 adults have wealth over $50 million and 1,790 have more than $100 million,” the report says.

The growth in household debt for India was one of the highest globally at 11.5% versus global average of 4%. Still, it is below that for the developed nations. According to the Wealth Report, personal debt for India is estimated to be at $1,345, or 8% of gross assets.

“Although indebtedness is a severe problem for many poor people in India, overall household debt as a proportion of assets is lower than in most developed countries,” the report says.

For India, the growth in financial assets was just 1.4% to $37 billion. The growth was below global average of 2%. For India, personal wealth in India is dominated by property, other real assets and less of financial assets. Non-financial assets grew by 7% to $708 billion. Globally, non-financial assets rose by 3.7% to $ 6.7 trillion.