India sixth largest contributor to global wealth
A customer holds a statue of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi who represents money or wealth, at a road side stall in Hyderabad on October 28, 2010, prior to the Diwali Festival – The Festival of Lights – which will be celebrated on November 5. The Diwali festival is often referred to as the Festival of Lights and during this time candles and lamps are lit as a greeting to Lakshmi.
India became the sixth largest contributor to the increase in global wealth in 2011, the Indian Express reports.
Just in time for the Hindu holiday of Diwali — a celebration of wealth that marks the biggest shopping season of the year — a new report by Credit Suisse Research Insitute found that India’s total wealth rose $1.3 trillion to reach $4.1 trillion in 2011, the paper said. The bank expects India's wealth to cross $8.9 trillion by 2016 — a percentage increase equivalent to the amount that the United States grew during the three decades between 1916 and 1946, the paper said.
China, Japan, Australia and India figured among the top six contributors, said the report.
Nevertheless, the “Global Wealth Report” cautioned that India continues to confront significant wealth disparity. It said 43 percent of Indian adults possess assets of less than $1000, well above the world average of 27 percent, the paper said. Meanwhile, 0.4 percent of Indian adults possess more than $100,000.
The same study found Australia to be the wealthiest nation in the world, with half its citizens possessing a net worth of more than $216,000, the World Today reported.
Total global wealth has rose 14 percent to $231 trillion in June 2011 from $203 trillion in January 2010, the paper said. Emerging markets contributed the most to the increase, with the fastest growth seen in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In the next five years, Credit Suisse expects global wealth to rise 50 percent to $345 trillion, with wealth per adult rising 40 percent to $70,700, the paper said.
Asia-Pacific accounted for 36 percent of wealth created since 2000 and 54 percent since 2010, the paper said. North America accounted for just 9.2 percent, and Europe contributed just 4.8 percent over the same period.
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