After China, India saw most 'high net-worth individuals' leaving country in 2017, says report

New Delhi: India witnessed the second largest outflow of millionaires globally after China with 7,000 high net worth individuals changing their domicile during 2017, 16 percent more than last year, according to a report. According to the report by New World Wealth, 7,000 ultra-rich Indians shifted overseas in 2017. In 2016, the figure stood at 6,000, while in 2015 as many as 4,000 millionaires shifted base. [caption id=“attachment_4269047” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Globally, as many as 10,000 super-rich Chinese changed their domicile in 2017. Other countries that witnessed large high net-worth individual (HNIs) outflows include Turkey (6,000), United Kingdom (4,000), France (4,000) and Russian Federation (3,000). As per the migration trends, Indian HNIs moved to the US, the UAE, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while Chinese HNIs moved to the US, Canada, and Australia. The report, however, noted that the outflows of HNIs from India and China are not “concerning” as these countries are producing far more new HNIs than they are losing. “Also, once the standard of living in these countries improves, we expect several wealthy people to move back,” it added. On the other hand, Australia was the top country for HNI inflows in 2017 with 10,000 ultra-rich people shifting base to this country, beating out its main rival the US for the third year running. Over the past 10 years, total wealth held in Australia has risen by 83 percent compared to 20 percent growth in the US. As a result, the average Australian is now significantly wealthier than the average US citizen, which was not the case 10 years ago, it added. The US was the second most popular destination for migrating HNIs in 2017 at 9,000, followed by Canada (5,000) and United Arab Emirates (5,000). As per the report, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of $8,230 billion. India is home to 3,30,400 HNIs (individuals with $1 million or more in net assets). Globally, India was ranked 9th in this aspect. The country has 20,730 multi-millionaires, 7th largest in the world. And in terms of resident billionaires, India, with 119 such individuals, was named among the top three countries globally, after the US and China. A billionaire is defined as an individual with net assets of $1 billion or more. Global wealth migration is accelerating and around 95,000 millionaires (HNIs) migrated in 2017, compared to 82,000 in 2016 and 64,000 in 2015, the report noted.