7,000 Indian Millionaires Shifted Overseas in 2017: Report

India had the second largest number of super rich people going overseas in 2017, according to the World Wealth Report released by Capgemini. India followed China when it came to people with high-net worth changing their country of domicile, the report showed.

About 7,000 ultra-rich Indians moved overseas in the year 2017. The corresponding figures in 2016 and 2015 were 6,000 and 4,000, respectively. On the other hand, 10,000 millionaires from China changed their domicile in 2017, the report said, according to PTI.

Countries like the United States, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were destinations where the high-net worth individuals (HNWI) from India shifted. Those from China migrated mainly to Canada, Australia and the United States. HNWIs are individuals with investible assets of $1 million or more.

“Switzerland, arguably the world’s most renowned offshore investment destination, is only the fifth favorite for Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, HNWI,” the report said.

The top three offshore investment destinations for India’s high-net worth individuals were Singapore, Dubai and London. For the Chinese, the corresponding locations were shown as Hong Kong, New York and Singapore.

According to the report, financial assets held by Indian HNWI outside home markets in 2017 were 41 per cent of their wealth, as opposed to 45.5 per cent for China, 42.2 per cent for Singapore and 68.1 per cent for Hong Kong.

The HNWI population in India between 2010-2016 grew by 9.5 per cent, as compared with Indonesia’s 13.7 per cent, and China’s 9.1 per cent growth. India was shown to have about 219,000 ultra-rich individuals with a combined wealth of $877 billion, according to the 2017 Asia Pacific Wealth Report (APWR) released on Nov. 7 by Capgemini.

Australia became the top destination for HNWI inflows in 2017 as 10,000 super-rich people moved to the country. Australia beat the United States for the third year successively in 2017. The United States, at 9,000, was the second most favored place for HNWIs to migrate in 2017, followed by Canada and the United Arab Emirates, both of which recorded inflow of 5,000 HNW individuals.

The largest HNWI population in 2015-16 was in the United States, followed by Japan, Germany, China, France, United Kingdom. India was ranked No. 12 in this list.

“The country rankings for HNWI population shifted considerably, with France surpassing the United Kingdom to take the number five spot and Sweden moving up two places to penetrate the top 25 for the first time. Other countries to climb up (by one place) included Russia, Norway and Austria,” said the report.

While Asia-Pacific remains the world’s largest HNWI market, its growth slowed slightly, putting it on par with growth rates in North America and Europe.