As a result of evolved financial markets and private enterprises unlocking value, 411,000 Indian high net worth households will be worth $1.7 trillion in 2017. In contrast, 409,000 Chinese millionaires will be worth $795.4 billion.
The study, done by Barclays Wealth and Economists Intelligence Unit, predicts that the number of Indian dollar-millionaire households will increase from less than 100,000 to 4.11 lakh in a decade.
Riding on the back of a large entrepreneurial class, contributions of top corporate professionals, inherited wealth and an increasing number of celebrities, India will only be preceded by the US, China, Japan, UK, Germany, France and Italy in the overall wealth rankings in 2017.
It will be ahead of several developed economies such as Canada, Spain, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Barclays household wealth index, which ranks 50 countries according to the overall net worth of the domestic sector, will see India break into the Top Ten league in 2017 from its current ranking of 14. China will climb to the third position from its present seventh position in the same period.
The study further says that Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are likely to make the most significant wealth gains in the wealth forecast of the nations under study.
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Thanks to a wave of initial public offers (IPOs), led by a bull market, India's markets have generated significant wealth. More than 50 per cent of the millionaires' wealth in the country lies in physical assets, including real estate, which comprises 43 per cent of the total portfolio, and gold (10 per cent).
"Composition of assets of wealthy Indians is increasingly shifting from physical assets to financial assets. We foresee huge potential in the creation of financial assets, as real estate and gold still account for more than half of the household wealth in the country," said Satya Bansal, Chief Executive Officer, Barclays Wealth, India.
According to him, Indians who recently became wealthy are biased against investing abroad.