According to a study, India would experience a five-fold increase of “super rich” households by the turn of the decade, with a significant portion of the growth coming from rural areas, which are home to the majority of the country’s impoverished.
In the five years leading up to 2021, the number of extremely wealthy households—those making more than 20 million rupees ($243,230) annually—nearly doubled to 1.8 million, according to a research released on Wednesday by PRICE, or People’s Research on India’s Consumer Economy and India’s Citizen Environment.
In contrast to cities, where the rise of these households was 10.6%, it was 14.2% in villages.
The analysis by the think tank, which surveyed more than 40,000 people in 25 states, revealed that the number of extremely wealthy households will increase even more, reaching 9.1 million by 2031, helped by quicker growth in rural areas.
According to Rajesh Shukla, the organization’s CEO and study author, “people are increasingly engaged in commercial agriculture businesses as well as non-agriculture activities in rural areas.” Entrepreneurs are moving into rural areas in record numbers, generating the small businesses and employment that power the economy.
As the number of millionaires in India rises, international wealth managers and banks are setting up shop there. According to Oxfam International, between 2018 and 2022, India produced an average of 70 new millionaires each day, drawing attention to the country as global corporations try to capture a burgeoning consumer market.
The third-largest economy in Asia is experiencing a quick rise in billionaires like Gautam Adani along with a growing middle class that is spending on luxury cars and international vacations. While this emphasises the nation’s growth potential, it also draws attention to the expanding disparity in the country.
The survey also revealed that the middle class, which now comprises 432 million people in the country and earns between $6,000 and $36,000 annually, is the group that is expected to grow the fastest, reaching 715 million people by the year 2031.
By that point, there will be 79 million fewer people in the “destitute” class—those with an annual income of less than $1,520.India’s consumption-driven economic story has a long runway ahead, according to Shukla.
We are still a nation of aspirer households, but we are moving quickly in the direction of a society of middle class households.