India has 3 million ‘affluent’ families

$ 100,000 investible funds.

“India and China have already surpassed major European markets like Germany and France. It’s interesting to see that the entrepreneurial spirit of people in these markets is already paying off in terms of personal wealth,” TNS Director Business and Finance Reg van Steen said.

While the US is ranked as the world’s most prosperous country,with 31 million affluent households,UAE and India appear in the top five countries where the affluent have more than $ 1 million investable assets on average,alongside Singapore and Hong Kong.

The only Europeans to feature in top five are the Swedish,while the UK and France are the least likely in Europe to have these levels of investable assets,the study said.

The study also highlighted that while incidence of affluence would be higher in small,wealthy countries like Luxemburg (29 per cent) and Singapore (20 per cent),this falls to around 1 per cent in India and China.

“This demonstrates a great contrast in wealth distribution within emerging markets,even where the actual number of affluent households is high and highlights a need for very precise marketing strategies to reach the right audience,” it said.

The study also revealed regional contrasts in terms of what the affluent actually invest in. While the Chinese,Indian and German affluent are keen investors in precious metals,this falls to just 3 per cent in Sweden,Norway and the Netherlands,and 2 per cent in Denmark and Israel.