India 2nd only to US, with 3 million affluent households: Survey

[nrj]

MUMBAI: Strange as it may sound, with as many as one-third of its population still living in poverty, the country is also home to the second largest number of affluent people with a whopping three million households which have over USD one lakh of investible funds.

According to a survey by the global market research agency TNS, while the US still is the world's most prosperous country with 31 million affluent households, India, China and Brazil have overtaken many European countries in this measure of consumer wealth with three million affluent households each in these countries which have over USD one lakh investible funds.

In other words, as many as 27 per cent American households are affluent, while this is only 1.25 per cent and 0.75 per cent in regard to India and China respectively, thanks to the sheer size of their population.

Though the cut-off money is USD 1 lakh for all the countries it is just USD 40,000 in Brazil, where this 3 million households constitute five per cent of the overall number of households.

However, it is Luxemburg that has the highest penetration in terms of per centage with 29 per cent penetration, but in absolute numbers the number of affluent households is only 89,000, followed by the US with 27 per cent penetration, Canada and Singapore 20 per cent each with 2.6 million and 2,30,000 households respectively.

Releasing the report, TNS business and finance director Reg van Steen said, "our research confirms that emerging markets will become new centres of affluence in coming years. India and China have already surpassed major European markets like Germany and France in this. It's interesting to see that the entrepreneurial spirit of people in these markets is already paying off in terms of personal wealth."

TNS India senior vice-president Chandrasekhar said, "a lot of people believe that there is considerable level of latent affluence in this country. And this study gives some pointers on the extent of the investment potential that the country offers as well as some relevant insights for tapping this potential."

The study titled the TNS Global Affluent Investor Survey, is based on interviews of 12,092 affluent decision-makers across 24 markets, including the US, India, China, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, the UAE, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The online survey was carried out during May-August this year.

The UAE and India appear in the top five countries where the affluent have over USD one million investable assets on average, alongside Singapore and Hong Kong.

The only European country to feature in this top five is the Sweden, while Britain and France are the least likely in Europe to have these levels of investable assets.

The survey also finds that men are the primary decision- makers among the affluent households in India (80 per cent) and Central Europe (79 per cent), but in north America this is only 45 per cent.

The findings also demonstrate regional contrasts in terms of what the affluent actually invest in. While in China, India and Germany the affluent are keen investors in precious metals (35, 33, and 23 per cent of respondents respectively), this is only 3 per cent in Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, and even lesser at 2 per cent in Denmark and Israel.

India 2nd only to US, with 3 million affluent households: Survey - The Economic Times

 

[redragon]

huge inbalance.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

whats the deal? if an individual has rs50,00,000 as investments, that amounts to being affluent? or is this amount per house hold?

if its the latter, then how many individuals constitute in a household?

i suspect one reason why india and china show up right on top and not other countries is because we in the east have always been high on savings/investments right from the beginning.

that said, there is not the slightest of the doubts in the fact there has been tremendous wealth creation in india and china, so possibly that is enough reason to be on top next to the US, and i suspect the number of house holds in india to be a lot more, if you know what i mean.

 

[Yusuf]

, and i suspect the number of house holds in india to be a lot more, if you know what i mean.

I bet $100,000 on that

 

[nrj]

Where are the progressive europeans? (pun intended!)

About bridging the gap, higher tax on affluent households should be the immediate step?

Indian habits of savings always had long term benefits. Now since it is vindicated on more than several occasion, the young generation shouldn't hesitate in keenly adopting savings practice.

 

[Iamanidiot]

In reality on paper yusuf is worth only 10,000$ where as iam worth only 500$ .The black is a different matter altogether

 

[Yusuf]

In reality on paper yusuf is worth only 10,000$ where as iam worth only 500$ .The black is a different matter altogether

quoted for ITwalas reference. Idiot's confession!!

 

[Iamanidiot]

how many undervalue their moolah in india because of the tax men.Heck even registration values of properties are undervalued.I don't believe has only 3 million individiuals with that net worth.I think the more realistic range 150-200 million people.If we convert the black to white and remember the family gold stash

 

[Yusuf]

Lol, back to the black money issue!!!

 

[Iamanidiot]

Lol, back to the black money issue!!!

Black money is a fact of life in India political correctness aside.The GoI rules never reward an honest man

 

[Yusuf]

The issue is tax. Why pay it?? That is the common refrain. The biggest of businesses and private companies evade tax. under reporting sales, book adjustments as allowed by the law itself, tweaking the law to the max possible but still not breaking it etc..

 

[Iamanidiot]

Yusuf laws are such that both labour and tax laws.If we follow it to the letter most Indians will not be even able to do business.India's moronic labour laws(drafted by commies(the bong variety))who do not have an inkling of pragmatism.Thanks to those moronic laws the Net loosers are Indians.The moronic labour laws contributed to large growth in unorganized sector.The moronic gold customs tax was another moronically drafted law.Dawood Ibrahim is the effect of the gold law.Until 1990 gold import was banned in India.The kolar mines produced pathetically low amount of gold and the demand was very high

 

[JayATL]

U.S. affluent classes dwarf China and India

(Reuters) - The United States has 10 times more affluent households than China or India, research shows, undermining arguments the global economy can be sustained by consumption in emerging markets.

A survey of affluent households around the world -- defined as having wealth of more than $100,000 -- by research firm TNS found 80 percent of such people live in Western countries.

While the number of affluent households in China and India is 3 million each, the U.S. has more than 31 million, the survey shows.

The results challenge hopes that the boom economies of Asia can supplant an ailing U.S. as the world's consumer of last resort, and keep global growth ticking over.

Reg van Steen, a director of business and finance at TNS, said researchers had to drop the wealth threshold to $40,000 for Brazil to make it possible to find a large-enough sample.

"What really surprises is China has surpassed Germany, France and the UK when it comes to the number of affluent. (But) it will take some time before we really see a shift from West to East," he said.

The number of households with more than $100,000 in liquid assets stands at 2.9 million in the UK, 2.5 million in Germany and 2.7 million in France, the survey of 12,000 people in 24 countries found.

The study also highlights the tiny proportion of overall population taken up by the affluent middle classes in China and India compared with developed countries.

The incidence of affluence in the U.S. is 27 percent, the study shows, 20 percent in Canada and 11 percent in the UK, while the proportion in China is 0.75 percent. India's affluent make up 1.25 percent of the country's population.

A global study of wealth published this year by Merrill Lynch and global consulting firm Capgemini found China has the world's fourth-largest population of millionaires.

However, the top three -- the U.S., Japan and Germany -- account for more than half of the world's millionaires.

U.S. affluent classes dwarf China and India | Reuters

 

[kickok1975]

(Reuters) - The United States has 10 times more affluent households than China or India, research shows, undermining arguments the global economy can be sustained by consumption in emerging markets.

A survey of affluent households around the world -- defined as having wealth of more than $100,000 -- by research firm TNS found 80 percent of such people live in Western countries.

While the number of affluent households in China and India is 3 million each, the U.S. has more than 31 million, the survey shows.

The results challenge hopes that the boom economies of Asia can supplant an ailing U.S. as the world's consumer of last resort, and keep global growth ticking over.

Reg van Steen, a director of business and finance at TNS, said researchers had to drop the wealth threshold to $40,000 for Brazil to make it possible to find a large-enough sample.

"What really surprises is China has surpassed Germany, France and the UK when it comes to the number of affluent. (But) it will take some time before we really see a shift from West to East," he said.

The number of households with more than $100,000 in liquid assets stands at 2.9 million in the UK, 2.5 million in Germany and 2.7 million in France, the survey of 12,000 people in 24 countries found.

The study also highlights the tiny proportion of overall population taken up by the affluent middle classes in China and India compared with developed countries.

The incidence of affluence in the U.S. is 27 percent, the study shows, 20 percent in Canada and 11 percent in the UK, while the proportion in China is 0.75 percent. India's affluent make up 1.25 percent of the country's population.

A global study of wealth published this year by Merrill Lynch and global consulting firm Capgemini found China has the world's fourth-largest population of millionaires.

However, the top three -- the U.S., Japan and Germany -- account for more than half of the world's millionaires.

U.S. affluent classes dwarf China and India | Reuters

I'm one of those so called "affluent" household. But my stock value declined by 40% and my 401K is in toilet. Not to mention the value of my house and a few rental properties. US needs to get her foot back, period. Vote for Mitt Romney!

 

[thakur_ritesh]

something of interest and related.

last night i was watching an interview of niranjan hiranandani on ndtv-profit and he was putting up some very encouraging figures. housing sector is seeing an explosion of demand at 30%, for his business he was seeing a growth rate of 25% yoy for the next 5 yrs and the real interesting bit, the supply is merely growing at 5% yoy.

point to note, the demand at 30%, which means many more house holds are going to figure in the list of affluence.

the down side, there is a bubble, but it will stay around with that kind of demand and supply mismatch. the big trouble, this bubble for now is only going to get bigger, good thing, the investor is bound to make tons of money.

 

[Iamanidiot]

riteshji that may be only for mumbai and dilli rest of the country the market is in a toss

 

[Iamanidiot]

iam not able to see a hike in the steel market esp construction steel

 

[hit&run]

One may not blame such studies as not accurate because of most the money is buried black money in India. I bet As far as having liquid assets above $100,000 is concern then a town like Ludhiana may have ~200,000 households with each having liquid assets (money and gold) above $100,000.


out of topic:
Value for money is different in different countries. Most of the evaluation of constructed buildings done in western countries seems exaggerated to me.
A crappy wooden house made in western country costs average around 350,000 dollar. The same amount converted into Indian rupees can help made a far more better a fort like house in India in any good locality.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

riteshji that may be only for mumbai and dilli rest of the country the market is in a toss

iam not able to see a hike in the steel market esp construction steel

i am not aware about other places but north (delhi/jaipur/chandigarh/shimla) have seen an explosion is property rates.

if the supply is only increasing by 5% yoy then i think that will show in the cost of steel as well, 5% is no big growth, and the increase of demand of 30% is not happening at the end of tht steel manufacturer but at the end of the builder when he is out selling houses.

One may not blame such studies as not accurate because of most the money is buried black money in India. I bet As far as having liquid assets above $100,000 is concern then a town like Ludhiana may have ~200,000 households with each having liquid assets (money and gold) above $100,000.


out of topic:
Value for money is different in different countries. Most of the evaluation of constructed buildings done in western countries seems exaggerated to me.
A crappy wooden house made in western country costs average around 350,000 dollar. The same amount converted into Indian rupees can help made a far more better a forte like house in India in any good locality.

HR,

it really depends what is meant by good locality, the other day i listed up this house (independent house) worth 2million usd in the outs skirts of gurgaon, like wise a good house in noida (outer skirts) would be no less than a million usd.

 

[vanwilder]

In china, i do not really think so big affluent is in households'hand, at least common households'hand. Actually, most monetary is concentrated in few people's hand.so if those people who control those affluent are passive in investing something, then so potential is really hard to be realized.