India home to 2.36 lakh millionaires: Report

New Delhi: India is home to the fourth largest population of millionaires in the Asia Pacific region, with 2.36 lakh such high net worth individuals, while Japan topped the list with 12.60 lakh people, a report says.

According to the Asia Pacific 2016 Wealth Report, by New World Wealth, India was ranked among the top five Asia Pacific countries in terms of number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs).

HNWIs (millionaires) were defined as those individuals with net assets of USD 1 million or more.

At the end of 2015, there were, 12,60,000 millionaires in Japan, while China ranked second with 654,000 HNWIs and Australia was at the third place had 290,000.

Others in the top 10 in terms of number of HNWIs in Asia Pacific include, Singapore at the fifth place with 224,000 millionaires, Hong Kong (6th, 215,000), South Korea (7th, 125,000), Taiwan (8th, 98,200), New Zealand (9th, 89,000) and
Indonesia (10th, 48,500).

Interestingly, India is among the top five Asia Pacific countries in terms of total private wealth held, but at the bottom in terms of per capita income.

India's total individual wealth stood at USD 4,365 billion, while China, which topped the list, had a total individual wealth of USD 17,254 billion.

Total individual wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals in each country, including all property, cash, equities and business interests.

On per capita basis, India was last among the bottom three, as the average wealth per person stood at USD 3,500, while that of Australia, which topped the ranking, stood at USD 204,400.

"As reflected, Australians are the wealthiest individuals in Asia Pacific with USD 204,000 in wealth per person, whilst people in Pakistan are the poorest with USD 1,600 per person," the report added.

It also noted that there were around 3.5 million HNWIs living in Asia Pacific, with combined wealth holdings of USD 17.7 trillion.

Asia Pacific HNWI numbers have increased by 115 percent over the past 15 years, compared to the worldwide HNWI growth rate of 82 percent and going forward, HNWI numbers in Asia Pacific are expected to rise by 50 percent over next 10 years, reaching around 5.2 million by 2025, it added.

Over this period (by 2025), India is expected to see a 105 percent growth in HNWI population to 483,800 from 236,000, the report added.