Which Indian city has the most millionaires?

Expectedly, its Mumbai, as its the commercial capital of India. But Bangalore is the city where millionaires are being bred the fastest.

A study by AmEx (2006) reveals that overall there are 83,000 HNIs (High Net Worth Individuals) and 7,11,000 super-rich people in India. Both these numbers are rapidly rising and in fact the number of super rich people are expected to cross a million by 2009. India is the fastest growing wealth base in Asia Pacific.

So how are these figures calculated? Well, they are based on invested individual wealth — across all forms of financial instruments like stocks, shares, securities, debentures, mutual funds.

The Bangalore figures are $25 billion. $200 billion for Mumbai and $50 billion in Delhi. Bangalore’s millionaires are growing the fastest, and the reasons given are that large numbers of Indians are moving back to Bangalore from abroad and also because Bangalore is sprouting a lot of entrepreneurs.

I admire people who make money (I guess I am a capitalist at heart) but ofcourse, only those who make it honestly. I am in particularly in awe of those who make it from scratch. I just love hearing stories of those who were poor and who made it rich, whether it is the story of the film star Rajnikanth, who went from being a bus conductor to the highest paid actor in India today or the story of Sarathbabu who rose from a Chennai slum to make it to the IIM and from there to become a successful entrepreneur. Stories of Lakshmi Nivas Mittal, who made his fortune on his own and not with the help of his father, are inspiring too.

The millionaires which appear in such lists are usually above-the-board millionaires as its difficult to invest black money in shares and funds. But ofcourse there are a lot of hidden millionnaires who never make it to these lists. Just after the Forbes billionaire list was out and it declared that India has 36 billionnaires, Nana Chudasama’s satirical banner on Marine Drive pointed out this fact.

It said: LAND OF HONEY. 36 KNOWN BILLIONNAIRES. SEVERAL MORE UNKNOWN IN MUMBAI, PUNE, DELHI.






This banner is always there, but the message keeps changing. It is penned by the ex-sheriff of Mumbai, an active social commentator. and his “satirist style of banner art” is one of the most well known aspects of Mumbai.

I can’t help feeling that the hidden millionaires are mostly corrupt politicians. .