There are 115,000 individuals in India with high net-worth.

Since 2000, this elite group has

grown an average of 11 per cent annually. Between 2006 and 2007, the number of wealthy
individuals in India surged by 23 per cent, which is the highest growth rate in the world.

"While the 'high class', which is ranked one level below the 'upper class' on the income and
education scale, donates 2.1% to charity, the middle class gives 1.9% of household income to
philanthropy," says Arpan Sheth, partner, Bain & Company. [42]

The percentage of India's GDP that is spent for charitable purposes is only 0.6 where the
percentage is 2.2 in the United States.

WEALTH DISTRIBUTION IN INDIA

Top 1%: 16% of wealth
Despite its burgeoning economy, the gap between rich and Top 5%: 38% of wealth
poor in India is vast. Top 10%: 53% of wealth
Bottom 80%: 30% of wealth
Bottom 50%: 8% of wealth
About 35% of people live on less than US$1 a day. Poverty Bottom 20%: 1% of wealth
is at its worst in rural areas and is often accompanied by Bottom 10% 0.2% of wealth
high levels of illiteracy and poor health. Source: University of Western
Ontario, 2006
Nationally, almost half of children suffer from
malnourishment, although infant mortality rates have
declined. Almost 60% of people in towns and 20% in rural areas do not have access to
proper sanitation.

Despite such problems, India has seen overall poverty decline - a shift which has been
accompanied by more general improvements to living standards.

Life expectancy rose from 59 to 63 between 1990 and 2004. Adult literacy rose from 50%
to 61% over the same period.

It is suggested that continued economic growth will drive up living standards for the
population as a whole.

India’s wealth was $1.2 trillion, so wealth has grown by 192% over the last 10 years. In 2000,
we had 1.03% of world wealth; in 2010 we have 1.82%

India's per capita income (nominal) is $1016, ranked 142nd in the world, while its per capita
purchasing power parity(PPP) of US$2,762 is ranked 129th.
States of India have large disparities. One of the critical problems facing India's economy is the
sharp and growing regional variations among India's different states and territories in terms of
per capita income, poverty, availability of infrastructure and socio-economic development.
Although income inequality in India is relatively small (Gini coefficient: 32.5 in year 1999-
2000) it has been increasing of late. Wealth distribution in India is fairly uneven, with the top
10% of income groups earning 33% of the income. Despite significant economic progress, a
quarter of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of
$0.40/day. 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005.

Between 1999 and 2008, the annualized growth rates for Maharashtra (9.0%) Gujarat (8.8%),
Haryana (8.7%), or Delhi (7.4%) were much higher than for Bihar (5.1%), Uttar Pradesh (4.4%),
or Madhya Pradesh (3.5%).

According to a World Bank paper Development Policy Review, $1 a day poverty rates in rural
Orissa (43%) and rural Bihar (40%) are some of the highest in the world. Seven low-income
states - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh -
are home to more than half of India's population. Bihar's 80 million people are by far the poorest
in India.

On the other hand, rural Haryana (5.7%) and rural Punjab (2.4%) compare well with middle-
income countries.

The five-year plans have attempted to reduce regional disparities by encouraging industrial
development in the interior regions, but industries still tend to concentrate around urban areas
and port cities.After liberalization, the more advanced states are better placed to benefit from
them, with infrastructure like well developed ports, urbanisation and an educated and skilled
workforce which attract manufacturing and service sectors. The union and state governments of
backward regions are trying to reduce the disparities by offering tax holidays, cheap land, etc.,
and focusing more on sectors like tourism, which although being geographically and historically
determined, can become a source of growth and is faster to develop than other sectors

India has around 170,000

NEW DELHI - India's robust economic growth is likely to drive the country's fortune to a whopping $6.4
trillion in the next five years, reflecting a nearly two-fold jump from the country's current wealth, says a
report.
According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report published for the first time, the total wealth of India
has trebled in a decade to $3.5 trillion. By 2015, the country's wealth could nearly double to $6.4 trillion.
Age distribution in household survey data by single-year age group and
household wealth quintile, India

Data source: India DHS 2005-06.

GLOBAL WEALTH REPORT _31

India
Unlocking wealth
Wealth in India has grown strongly over the past decade with
wealth per adult more than doubling from USD 2000 in the
year 2000 to USD 4900 in 2010. Given the 26% rise in adult
population, aggregate wealth has grown by 204%. In US dollar
terms, there was a significant contraction in 2008, although
much of this was due to changes in the rupee exchange rate.
When this is taken into account, wealth growth in India has
been fairly steady.
Along with most countries in the developing world, in India
personal wealth is heavily skewed towards real property which
makes up more than 90% of estimated household assets.
Personal debts are recorded at only USD 212 per head.
However it has been claimed that the large and well-
established household survey on which the data for India are
based suffers from significant under-reporting of debt.
Relative to the rest of the world, the distribution of wealth in
India is heavily biased towards the lower end, with the
proportion of adults having wealth below USD 1000 roughly
double the world figure. This reflects the fact that wealth has
not grown equally for everyone in India, and that the country
has persistent poverty. At the other end of the scale, a very
small proportion of the population (just 0.4%) own assets
whose value exceeds USD 100,000. While numbers at the top
end are still small, they have been increasing fairly quickly in
recent years, and the rate of increase can be expected to rise
in the future if India’s economy continues to grow at its current
rate.

India: A Wealth Report

Much has been written about the rising wealth and prosperity of Indians. All kinds of cliches are
in use, devised by the likes of Thomas Friedman. But just how rich are the Indians today? What
is the distribution of wealth in India among its 1.2 billion citizens? What is considered rich?
What is the income range of middle class households? Here are some statistics from a recent
survey that was written up in Open Magazine.

 "Rich" households
       $35,000+ per year: 1.3% (16 million people) 
 "Middle-class" households
      $8,000 to $35,000 per year: 13% (160 million)
 "Aspiring middle-class" households
      $3,500 to $8,000 per year: 30% (359 million)
 "Deprived" households
      Below $3,500 per year: 57% (684 million)

I wish there had been another category of "Severely deprived" households comprising, say, the
bottom 300 million people. I bet the household income there is below $800 per year (~$2/day).

About 170,000 people, or 0.01%, have a net-worth over $1 million. Of these, 25 are dollar
billionaires
Following is the definition of Deprived, Aspirers, seekers and strivers(Taken from McKinsey & Company's article : Big
Spender: India's middle class BusinessWeek By Diana Farrell and Eric Beinhocker)

Deprived and Aspirers are almost 95% of the India's population and are considered as Aam Aadmi.

Deprived - Household income less than Rs. 90,000

Deprived include subsistence farmers and unskilled laborers who often struggle to find work. They are almost 54% of
the population. Since 1985, the ranks of the deprived have fallen from 93 percent to 54 percent of the population.

Aspirers - Household income between Rs. 90,000 to Rs, 200,000

Aspirers are typically small shopkeepers, farmers with their own modest landholdings or semiskilled industrial and
service workers. They are almost 41% of the population.

The next 5%(approximately 50 million people include Seekers, Strivers and Rich)
Seekers - Household income between Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 500,000
Seekers range from young college graduates to mid-level government officials, traders and business people.They
enjoy a lifestyle that most of the world would recognize as middle class and typically own a television, a refrigerator, a
mobile phone and perhaps even a scooter or a car.

Strivers- Household income between Rs. 500,000 and Rs. 1 million

Strivers, the upper end of the middle class, tend to be senior government officials, managers of large businesses,
professionals and rich farmer

Rich Household income is greater than Rs. 1 million

So, if you are Seekers, Strivers and call yourself Mr. Laxman's common man, then Think Again.