Articles on wealth

The dominant narrative about wealthy Indians leaving India is three years out of date. Henley’s own numbers show the net outflow peaked at 7,500 in 2022 and has fallen three years running. The commentary that pairs the Henley millionaire figure with the MEA citizenship renunciation figure of 206,000 conflates two populations that differ by a factor of 60. And the stated reasons wealthy Indians give for considering emigration — air pollution, taxes, political instability, children’s education — fail against the destination data. This is what the numbers actually say, what the behavioural frameworks explain, and what the emigration decision actually buys.

In urban India, the covert benchmark for having actually made it is a specific number: ₹10 crore in invested or unencumbered assets. Dollar millionaire, roughly, at current exchange rates. Not including the house you live in. The exclusion is the sharpest piece of the frame — Indian net worth is heavily real-estate-weighted, and the headline net worth number typically conflates things that cannot be realised without creating a bigger problem than they solve. The threshold captures something more specific: the asset base that produces mobility, optionality, and real choice.