7,000 super-rich Indians shifted base in 2017

New Delhi: India witnessed the second largest outflow of millionaires with 7,000 high net worth individuals changing their domicile during 2017, according to a report. In 2016, the figure stood at 6,000, while in 2015 as many as 4,000 millionaires shifted base, the report by New World Wealth stated.

China tops the global list with 10,000 super-rich Chinese changing their domicile in 2017. Other countries that witnessed large high net worth individual (HNI) outflows include Turkey (6,000), United Kingdom (4,000), France (4,000) and Russian Federation (3,000).

As per the migration trends, Indian HNIs moved to the US, the UAE, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while Chinese HNIs moved to the US, Canada and Australia. The report, however, noted that the outflows of HNIs from India and China are not “concerning” as these countries are producing far more new HNIs than they are losing.

“Also, once the standard of living in these countries improves, we expect several wealthy people to move back,” it added. On the other hand, Australia was the top country for HNI inflows in 2017 with 10,000 ultra-rich people shifting base to this country, beating out its main rival the US for the third year running.

Over the past 10 years, total wealth held in Australia has risen by 83% compared to 20% growth in the US. As a result, the average Australian is now significantly wealthier than the average US citizen, which was not the case 10 years ago.

The US was the second most popular destination for migrating HNIs in 2017 at 9,000, followed by Canada (5,000) and United Arab Emirates (5,000). As per the report, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with a total wealth of 528262.62₹ billion.

India is home to 3,30,400 HNIs (individuals with 64.19₹ million or more in net assets). Globally, India was ranked 9th in this aspect. The country has 20,730 multi-millionaires, 7th largest in the world. And in terms of resident billionaires, India with 119 such individuals was named among the top three countries, after the US and China.

Global wealth migration is accelerating and around 95,000 millionaires (HNIs) migrated in 2017, compared to 82,000 in 2016 and 64,000 in 2015.