Rich Indians seen driving rise in global citizenship
Kounteya Sinha TNN
London: Rich Indians – defined as those with a net worth of $30 million and above — have now become one of the largest populations based abroad.
The practice of acquiring ‘global citizenship’ — a second citizenship or place of residence — is becoming popular among the world’s ultra-wealthy and an increasing number of superrich from China and India are likely to trend this path in the coming years, said a Wealth-X report.
Among Indian billionaires, L N Mittal is based in the UK while Pallonji Mistry holds an Irish citizenship. Asia is expected to drive global growth and be the largest Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) region in the world within 20 years. One in every seven UHNW individuals in the world — almost 27,000 out of a total of 200,000 — is now an Indian or a Chinese. At the average population growth rate of 5.9% predicted for Asia, these four groups (non-resident Chinese, NRIs, China and India’s UHNW individuals) would grow by 33% in the next five years.
This means an additional 8,935 UHNW individuals, greater than the current UHNW population of Switzerland and Italy combined, would be created in the next five years.
India and China already have some of the largest populations based abroad, with 5,380 NRIs and 3,020 NRCs. “It is likely that we will see an increasing number of UHNW individuals from Asia’s two giants, China and India, seeking global citizenship in the coming years,” the Wealth X report said.
The average net worth of someone who applies for a second citizenship is above $205 million, 47% above the global average for UNHW individuals of $139 million.
About 32% of their net worth is in liquid assets which is equal to over $66 million per individual. In absolute terms, it’s nearly double the global average of $35 million, and is also higher as a proportion of wealth,
Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/05/05&EntityId=Ar01402&AppName=1&ViewMode=HTMLmpared to the global average liquidity of 25%.
