Rural India Building ‘Super Rich’ Class Faster Than Urban: Report

India will soon see an increase of five-fold in its ‘super-rich’ families by the end of the decade and a major chunk of the growth will be seen coming from rural areas, the home of the nation’s poorest, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report is based on the study published by People’s Research on India’s Consumer Economy and India’s Citizen Environment (PRICE). The report showed that the number of super rich households earning more than 20 million rupees ($243,230) a year almost doubled to 1.8 million rupees in five years to 2021. The growth of such households in villages was 14.2 per cent compared to 10.6 per cent in cities. 

The study by the think tank which polled more than 40,000 people in 25 states, showed that the super-rich households will swell further to 9.1 million by 2031, aided by faster growth in rural areas. 

“People are increasingly engaged in commercial agriculture businesses as well as non-agriculture activities in rural areas,” said Rajesh Shukla, chief executive officer of the organization and the author of the report. “Entrepreneurs are flooding into rural areas, creating jobs and small businesses that drive the economy,” Bloomberg reported. 

India is garnering a lot of attention from global wealth managers and foreign banks are expanding as the nation is becoming home to a rising number of millionaires. As per the Oxfam International report, India minted 70 new millionaires each day between 2018 and 2022, bringing the nation's attention as multinationals look to tap into the growing consumer market.

Along with the flourishing middle class which is now spending on luxury cars and foreign holidays, Asia’s third-largest economy is also seeing a rapid rise of billionaires such as Gautam Adani. The study showed that India’s middle-class population of 432 million is earning between $6,000 and $36,000 annually, which is the fastest-expanding category and it is predicted to reach 715 million by 2031. While the ‘destitute’ class, with income less than $1,520 will shrink by more than half to 79 million by that time.