India's rich population shrank by 31.6pc: Report

New York, Jun 25: In an unprecedented decline, wealth of world's rich people dropped nearly 20 per cent to 32.8 trillion dollars and India was the country that saw the second largest decline in the number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) for the year 2008.

The HNWI by definition are those who have at least 1 million dollars in investable assets and according to the World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini population of HNWIs plummeted by about 15 per cent to 8.6 million, and in India the numbers came down by 31.6 per cent to 84,000.

"At the end of 2008, the worlds population of HNWIs was down 14.9 per cent from the year before to 8.6 million, and their wealth had dropped 19.5 per cent to $32.8 trillion. The declines were unprecedented, and wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007," the report said.

The report noted that even though India posted the fastest rate of growth in 2007, its HNWI population shrank 31.6 per cent accounting for the second largest decline in the world. the report added that India is continues to be a growing economy which was adversely affected by decline in global demand for its goods and services and dip in market capitalisation in 2008.

OneIndia News