Despite pandemic, 12% more Indian households became wealthy in 2021, says Credit Suisse

India has witnessed a 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in total household wealth in 2021, leading financial services company Credit Suisse said in a recent report. India’s total household wealth stood at $14.2 trillion at the end of 2021, which was up by $1.5 trillion or 12 per cent from 2020.

Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report 2022, which was released on Tuesday, further stated that wealth per adult in India has risen at an impressive annual rate of 8.8 per cent since the year 2000 and stood at $15,535 at the end of 2021, even though the numbers are much below the global mean of $87,489 recorded at the end of 2021.  

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On a country basis, the United States added the most household wealth in 2021, followed by China, Canada, India and Australia. Last year, global wealth increased 9.8 per cent to $463.6 trillion from 2020, the biggest one-year increase in wealth since the beginning of the 21st century.  

However, as per the report, the median wealth in India dropped to 41 per cent of the world value by the end of 2021.  

India, the report noted that India saw a slump of 6.1 per cent in its GDP in 2020, though it recovered in 2021. The growth was boosted amid a 31 per cent sharp rise in stock prices.

The report said that India might see slower GDP growth in 2022 as stock prices in the first half of 2022 fell 9.0 per cent, as compared to last year.  

More millionaires

The detailed report also noted that the number of millionaires went up 107,000 in the country in 2021, which was at least 1 per cent of total global millionaires.

The report said that the number is expected to grow by more than double to about 1.6 million by 2026 from 796,000 in 2021. The wealth share of the top 1 per cent Indians was at 40.6 per cent, which has gone up by 0.1 per cent in 2021. It was around 33.2 per cent in 2000.

Globally, the report noted that despite increased volatility due to Russia-Ukraine war, the number of millionaires will grow by 40 per cent in the next five years. The report noted that there will be more than 87.5 million people with at least $1 million in wealth in 2026, up from 62.5 million in 2021.