A new report by global investment firm Bernstein has found that India’s wealthiest people continue to invest heavily in physical assets like real estate and gold, instead of using financial tools such as stocks or mutual funds.

The report, as cited by ANI, studies the asset patterns of the ‘Uber Rich’, a group made up of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNI), High Net Worth Individuals (HNI), and the Affluent class.

Although they make up just 1 per cent of Indian households, these wealthy groups control about 60 per cent of the country’s total wealth and 70 per cent of financial assets.

Their combined wealth is $11.6 trillion, out of India’s estimated total household wealth of $19.6 trillion, the report said.

According to Bernstein, only $2.7 trillion of this wealth is invested in actively managed financial products like equities, mutual funds, insurance, and bank deposits. This portion is what wealth managers call the Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM).

However, the rest, around $8.9 trillion, is stored in illiquid or hard-to-access assets such as real estate, gold, unlisted company shares, and cash. These assets are not easily managed or moved, which shows that structured financial services are still not widely used in India, even among the rich.

The report shows a growing chance for wealth managers and financial advisors in India. As more wealthy families begin exploring investments beyond gold and property, there’s a large market waiting to be tapped.

Even among the rich, a lot of money is still sitting idle or outside the formal investment system.

Bernstein also pointed out that "the top 1 per cent earn 40 per cent of all income," while the rest of the population owns just a small share of income and assets. This suggests that wealth inequality in India is even worse than income inequality.

According to the report, India has about 35,000 Ultra High Net Worth households, each with assets over $12 million. On average, each of these households holds $54 million, including $24 million in financial assets.

Together, this small group controls about $4.5 trillion in financial wealth, 70 per cent of all financial assets in the country.



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