Key Points

The Allianz Global Wealth Report 2025 revealed that the wealth of Indian households showed the strongest growth in eight years, highlighting the growing influence of the country’s middle class.

In the last twenty years, India’s real per capita financial assets have multiplied fivefold, ranking it among the most impressive wealth trajectories of emerging economies. Securities led growth last year, jumping 28.7 per cent, while insurance and pensions rose 19.7 per cent.

Bank deposits, comprising 54 per cent of household portfolios, surged 8.7 per cent. Financial assets rose 9.4 per cent when adjusted for inflation, raising purchasing power 40 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.

For comparison, Western Europe's purchasing power is 2.4 per cent lower than in 2019. In 2024, net financial assets per Indian rose to $2,818, marking a 15.6 per cent increase from the prior year.

According to the report, liabilities rose by a moderate 12.1 per cent, maintaining household debt at 41 per cent of GDP.

The report indicates that there has been no global progress on inequality in the past 20 years, with the wealthiest 10 per cent still controlling approximately 60 per cent of household wealth. In India, the top 10 per cent of the population held 65 per cent of household wealth in 2024, an increase from 58 per cent in 2004.

Over the past decade, US households have generated 47 per cent of worldwide wealth growth, compared with China’s 20 per cent and Western Europe’s 12 per cent.

Wealth in securities worldwide increased by nearly 12 per cent in 2024, double the pace of bank deposits and insurance/pension assets. North Americans allocate 59 per cent of their portfolios to securities, compared with 35 per cent in Western Europe and just 13 per cent in India.

- IANS