Hyderabad Beats Delhi, Pune In Creating Ultra Rich Individuals; This City Is At #1 Position

Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2022 revealed that Mumbai has the highest number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the country with 1,596 UHNWIs.

Cities With The Most Ultra-Wealthy

It is followed by Hyderabad with 467, Pune at number 3 with 360, Bengaluru with 352, Kolkata with 257, Delhi with 210, Chennai with 160 and Ahmedabad with 121.

The report defines UHNWIs having a net worth of $30 million (over Rs 225 crore) and above including their primary residence.

High-net-worth individuals are those with net worth of $1 million or more, including their primary residence.

India overall saw the number of UHNWIs grow by 11 percent YoY in 2021, the highest percentage growth in APAC.

It also ranked 6th in percentage growth of the self made and under 40 UHNWI population

India With Third-Most Number Of Billionaires

Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India commented that the growth of UHNWIs in India is driven by equity markets and digital adoption.

The company foresees younger, self-made UHNWIs driving new investment themes and innovation.

India is predicted to be one of the fastest growing countries with a healthy growth in the UHNWI and billionaire population.

At present, it is ranked 3rd in terms of billionaires’ population in 2021 following the US and China.

Wealth Allocation

Indian UHNWIs allocate 29 percent of their wealth towards purchase of principal and second homes.

22 percent of these individuals’ investable wealth was allocated towards direct purchase of commercial property (including rental property, offices etc).

8 percent of the investable wealth was allocated towards indirect purchase of commercial property (includes REITs, funds).

The survey also cites that 8 percent of the property portfolio is held overseas.

Real Estate 

On an average, an Indian UHNWI owns 2.3 homes and 32% of them have rented out their second homes during 2021.

In terms of real estate, Monaco is once agains the world’s most expensive city where $1 million can buy 14.6 square metres of space.

It is followed by Hong Kong (21.3 sq.mt) and London (30.6 sq.mt) in 2021.

In comparison, in Mumbai 108.1 square metres (1164.02 sq.ft.) of prime residential real estate can be bought for $1 million – a 2 percent increase from 106 square meters (1140.9 sq. ft.) in 2020.

In Delhi, you can purchase 206.1 square metres (2218 sq.ft.) and Bengaluru 357.3 square metres (3845.9 sq.ft.) of prime residential real estate with an increase of 2.03% and 1.76% respectively.

Luxury Investments

Indian UHNWIs allocate 11 percent of the investable wealth towards passion-led investments against the global average of 16 percent.

Art was the most preferred investment by Indian UHNWIs, followed by jewellery, classic cars, watches and luxury handbags.

Knight Frank’s luxury investment index said that art provided a return of 13 percent in a year and 75% percent over 10 years.