Angel investors are set to continue to back India’s growing IT sector and will help deliver more millionaires to the subcontinent.
A WealthInsight report forecast the number of Indian millionaires (or high net-worth individuals [HNWIs]) will grow by more than a third by 2020, with the average HNWI having just under US$4.9 million – US$1.3 million more than the average China-based millionaire.
WealthInsight head, Oliver Williams, said much of the growth in HNWI numbers stemmed from “rampant entrepreneurism” in the technology sector, as to the nation’s surging economy.
“The number of millionaire entrepreneurs is on the increase in India, having grown by nearly seven per cent in the past year,” he said.
“Much of this has been driven by the tech sector; small businesses that have surged in a number of ‘silicon spots’ throughout the country.
“The tech sector has in turn thrived on angel investments — proof that many of India’s HNWIs and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are putting money back into the economy. The technology space is attaching 51 per cent of all angel and venture investments made in India.
“Like most emerging countries, the concentration of India’s wealth lies in its cities.
“However, cities with thriving technology and financial markets have seen, and will continue to witness, the highest growth of wealthy individuals.
“By 2020, Mumbai will become one of Asia’s major wealth hubs as its millionaire population swells to 142,000.
“However, confined inequality could pose a serious issue to this status as India’s mass urbanisation is buttressed by surging wealth.”
