India to become 8th wealthiest place by 2017: Barclays

7 May, 2008, 1900 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: India with its increasing number of millionaires is projected to be in the 8th position among the world's top 10 wealth centres by 2017, says a report by banking giant Barclays.

The report further says that emerging markets like India, China and Russia are fast catching up with the rich countries in terms of their wealth.

"Over the coming decade, the gap in wealth between the world's most developed countries and the leading emerging markets will continue to narrow with many new millionaires being created in India, China, Russia and other countries which are undergoing rapid development," says Barclays Wealth Report.

Moreover, by 2017 the four emerging markets India, China, Brazil and Russia will have so many millionaires that it would be inappropriate to call them emerging markets, Barclays added.

The second fastest growing economy India is expected to join the league of top 10 wealth centres by 2017 by that time its neighbour China is likely to move up to third rank from its present seventh place.

While Russia could experience considerable growth, moving to 11th place from 19th, Brazil will also move up the ladder to 12th from 15th.

The report says a sudden spurt in the wealth of emerging markets has displaced more developed economies such as Australia, South Korea and Portugal from the list.

Australia's ranking fell from 10th to 16th, while South Korea dipped to 12th from 15th and Portugal came down to 34th from 25th.

In 2007, G7 countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US contained more than one million millionaire households.