India, where more than a third of its 1.25 billion people don’t have the means to eat two square meals a day, the number of the Richie-rich or what marketers call as high networth individuals grew by a shameless 22.2 percent in 2012, a year that saw the economy clipping at just about 5 per cent and against the global HNI growth of just of 9.2 percent, again against the world GDP growth of under 2 percent.
The number of the global millionaires or NHI population grew to a whopping 12 million with a collective networth of record high of $46.2 trillion. The highest rate was reported in Hong Kong at over 35 percent, according to the World Wealth Report 2013, released by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management. As per the report, the investable wealth of the world's HNIs rebounded in 2012, growing by 10 percent to reach a record high of USD 46.2 trillion, after declining 1.7 percent in 2011.
As many as 1 million individuals joined the global HNI population, which reached 12 million, reflecting an increase of 9.2 percent. "HNIs increases were strong in 2012. However, North America's lead in both population and wealth is likely to be eclipsed again in the future by Asia-Pacific," Capgemini global financial services chief sales and marketing officer Jean Lassignardie said.
In 2012 North America's population of 3.73 million HNIs surpassed Asia-Pacific's 3.68 million, while its HNI wealth reached $12.7 trillion, above the $12 trillion in the Asia-Pacific. However, in terms of overall wealth growth rate, Asia-Pacific actually had a higher rate at 12.2 percent, compared to North America's 11.7 percent.
Among the Asia Pacific countries, Hong Kong experienced a 35.7 percent increase in its HNIs population, followed by India with 22.2 percent growth. The growth in number of HNIs in the country is attributed to positive trends in equity market capitalisation, gross national income, consumption and real estate.
In Asia-Pacific, equity markets responded well to aggressive monetary policy moves. In India, reform measures and monetary easing helped equity markets gain by 23.9 percent, while strong exports in Korea partly contributed to a 20.2 percent gain there. Going forward the future outlook looks cautiously upbeat, led by Asia-Pacific.
According to the report, global HNI wealth is forecast to grow by 6.5 percent annually over the next three years with the Asia-Pacific region projected to grow at one and a half times the global average at 9.8 percent and is expected to lead global growth. "Despite a marked focus on capital preservation and high cash allocations, high networth individuals achieved a record level of wealth in 2012, suggesting further growth lies ahead if trust and confidence in the markets increase further," said.
