Dollar millionaires rose by 11% despite the pandemic, but happiness eluded many, finds study
A Hurun Report study found that while a pandemic-hit India in 2021 saw an 11 per cent rise in dollar millionaires, the percentage of them who felt happy in their personal and professional lives fell from the previous year.
While millions suffered across India in various ways due to the pandemic, the country saw an 11 per cent rise in dollar millionaires, that is, people who have assets valued at 1 million dollars and above, or, approximately, Rs 7 crore. This was revealed recently in a Hurun Report study.
At the end of the pandemic-hit 2021, the report says, 4.58 lakh households came within the bracket of ‘dollar millionaires.
These findings come at a time when there are rising concerns about the growing inequality in the country with a population of over 130 crore.
A recent Oxfam India report estimated that while the wealth of the top 100 richest Indians amounted to $775 billion, India also accounted for 4.6 crore, or half of the overall people on the planet, falling into extreme poverty in 2021.
The number of Indian dollar millionaires is expected to increase by 30 per cent to touch 6 lakh households by 2026, says Oxfam India.
To bring about some parity, Oxfam had suggested higher taxation for the super-rich. But of the 350 dollar millionaires surveyed by Hurun Report, less than a third felt that paying taxes is a determinant of social responsibility.
Indian millionaires cut a sorry figure in terms of philanthropy too. Only 19 per cent of the millionaires surveyed by Hurun said they believed in giving back to society, coming at a time when calls for greater help to society through philanthropy are growing.
However, interestingly, the Hurun survey also indicated that the percentage of dollar milllionaires in India (of the 350 surveyed) who classified themselves as happy in their personal and professional lives slipped from 72 per cent in 2020 to 66 per cent in 2021. Despite getting richer, happiness is eluding many of them. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that.
