India to be the 8th richest place by 2017!

India is expected to secure its position in World top 10 richest place list by 2017 with its increasing number of millionaires. A report by banking giant Barclays revealed that emerging markets like India, China and Russia are fast catching up with the rich countries in terms of their wealth and India is projected to be in the 8th position among the world’s top 10 wealth centers in coming decade.

“Over the coming decade, the gap in wealth between the world’s most developed countries and the leading emerging markets will continue to narrow with many new millionaires being created in India, China, Russia and other countries which are undergoing rapid development,” says Barclays Wealth Report.

Barclays told that the four emerging markets – India, China, Brazil and Russia will house so many millionaires in the coming decade and will replace the more developed economies such as Australia, South Korea and Portugal from the list and the markets will no more be categorized as emerging markets.

In India, there would be 4, 11,000 households with wealth in excess of USD 1 million by 2017. The numbers of mass affluent, with wealth over $500,000, is expected to rise from a negligible figure in 2007 to 1.9 million by 2017, the report said.

The country’s financial assets stood at $1.8 trillion in 2006, more than double its GDP, a higher ratio than that in Latin America, Eastern Europe or Russia, it added.

Where the second fastest growing economy India is expected to come at position eight in the top 10 wealth centers, China is likely to move up to third rank from its present seventh place. Russia can move from 19th to 11th position while Brazil can swing to 12th from 15th.

Other developed countries are falling from their position. Australia’s ranking fell from 10th to 16th, while South Korea dipped to 12th from 15th and Portugal came down to 34th from 25th.

In 2007, G7 countries- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, contained more than one million millionaire households. By 2017, there would be 12 countries with one million USD millionaire households, the report said.

“In long-term, India’s economic prospects look rosy, although there remain obstacles to growth, including poor infrastructure, trade barriers and a shortage of skilled labor” Barclays added.