Goldman Sachs Report Announces More Indians To Get Affluent By 2027
India is getting richer and the world is already moving in to cash in on the wave of affluence that will hit the Indian shore by 2027. According to a report published by the American investment bank Goldman Sachs, “India’s affluent class is expected to grow up to 100 million in strength in the next three years.” The number stands at roughly 60 million right now and it is growing at a rate unparalleled by the overall Indian population, especially taking in view the figures of the past four years.
This affluent class will contain Indians taking home an annual income of at least Rs 8.3 lakh or $10,000. What brings this news into perspective is the fact that the number of affluent citizens in India was just 24 million in 2015 and their income is about five times the country’s average per capita income, which is $2100.
And since we are talking of money, how can we not talk about the impact that this rising affluence will have on the overall consumption of products in the Indian market, be it leisure products, jewellery, packaged eatables, healthcare, and premium luxury brands.
The report is titled “The Rise of Affluent India” and it has pointed out a foremost increase in the value of the financial and physical assets possessed by Indians between 2019 and 2023. These assets are mainly divided into three categories – equities, gold and property.
Another news that is seen as adding to this heartening development is an SBI report, released earlier last week, mentioning that India had achieved a substantial reduction in the income disparity, in comparison to the statistics of the financial year 2013-14. The SBI report is based on the data of the Income Tax department and it points out that between 2014 and 2021, more than one-third of the Indians were able to shift from earning less than Rs 3.5 lakh per year to higher income brackets.
The fact that more and more Indians are coming up in the higher income brackets could only mean one thing for the market situation – more consumers! Investors, bankers, finance corporations must prepare themselves for this wave of affluence!
(The writer is a Mortgage Specialist and Zonal Manager with Andromeda, India’s largest loan distributor.)
