'Millionaires to rise in India despite slowdown'

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Mumbai, Nov 19: Even though there is a slowdown in the global economy and its impact will be felt by India as well, the number of dollar millionaires in India is set to rise and the Indian wealth management business is set to grow, say Barclay’s Wealth executives who have launched their wealth management business in India in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The Barclays Wealth Insights report released recently in association with Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that by 2017, India is expected to have around 4, 11,000 households with wealth in excess of $1 million and the aggregate wealth held by these households will be in excess of $1.7 trillion. The report also said that India is expected to be the eighth largest market in world in terms of overall net wealth.

When quizzed about the timing of the launch and the overall asset decline in the meltdown, Robert Morrice, chairman and chief executive, Asia Pacific, Barclays PLC said that it is during such times that sound wealth management was preferred by wealthy clients. He also mentioned that globally the meltdown had seen their assets grow as many of the clients from other banks had moved their funds into Barclays and also due to the fact that they had acquired other banks. “The global funds that we manage have grown to around $250 billion and the Asia Pacific business to $7 billion. We have been a beneficiary of the turmoil,” he added. Morrice added that the wealth management market in India is evolving and getting more organized to meet the increasingly complex wealth management needs of high-net-worth (HNWs) and ultra HNW individuals.

“We are launching our services in India at an opportune time, as the current market conditions enables us to engage with our clients more deeply than before. We have observed that in testing times like this, the clients are more receptive to have holistic and bespoke solutions to protect, grow and sustain their wealth,” said Satya Bansal, chief executive with Barclays Wealth, India.

Currently the office has been set up in Mumbai. The team is built up of 70 select professionals across functions which is likely to cross 100 over the next six months, said Bansal.