India’s wealth creation story is taking shape at the base of the pyramid rather than the very top, with the country minting millionaires at a record pace while billionaire growth remains highly selective, according to the Mercedes-Benz Hurun India Wealth Report 2025.
The report shows India now has 8,71,700 millionaire households (net worth US$1 million / AUD 1.63 million), a 90% jump from 4,58,000 in 2021. This group represents 0.31% of all households in the country. Between 2017 and 2025, households worth more than US$1 million grew 445%, but only 5% crossed into the ultra-high-net-worth (UHNI) category of US$12 million, and a mere 0.01% became billionaires.
“I am struck by the extraordinary upward mobility we’re witnessing in India,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, Founder and Chief Researcher at Hurun India.
“In less than a decade, the number of Indian households worth over US$1 million has skyrocketed by 445% – a surge that underlines how wealth creation is reaching a broader base of society. Yet it’s also telling that only about 5% of 2017’s millionaires have become UHNIs and just 0.01% reached billionaire status. The climb to the very top remains steep.”
At the pyramid’s apex are 360 billionaire households, with a combined net worth of ₹185 lakh crore (over AUD 3.33 quadrillion). Below them, 66,800 households hold wealth above ₹100 crore (AUD 18 million), while the affluent base expands sharply at the millionaire level.
The report highlights regional wealth hubs, with Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru maintaining their lead, while cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Chennai are emerging as new centres of affluence.
Notably, seven Tier II cities – Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, and Lucknow – feature among the top 10 wealth creators, showing the spread of prosperity beyond India’s metros.
With the economy projected to double in the next decade, Hurun expects India’s millionaire households to also double, reaching between 1.7 to 2 million by 2035.
The wealth surge is also reshaping spending patterns. Luxury real estate, premium cars, jewellery, international travel, and global investments are among the top preferences of India’s rich. Meanwhile, digital payments, regional-language wealth advisory services, and wealthtech platforms are helping spread financial services into smaller towns.
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