How Much Money will Make You RICH in India !!!!!

Each investor or person often asks the question is what amount of wealth or money will qualify him as rich !!! This is a very subjective question as rich itself does not have an exact definition. It is also relative as a person with 1 crore in a village may think himself as rich while a person with even 10 crore in South Mumbai may feel himself to be quite poor. However, with the help of tax data, average consumption, and per capita numbers we may define what income or wealth level may make someone think himself of as rich. It also depends on a person’s temperament as people who are secure and content may think of themselves as rich with far less than insecure people.

India remains a very poor country with a per capita income of just USD 2,500 per year which is almost 20 times less than the USA. Here a person with even 1 lakhs of salary per month will be amongst the top 5% richest in the country however for a person living in a metro city this will make put him in the middle class at best in his thoughts.

Most people that I have talked with think that Rs. 1-2 lakh is a good income to live comfortably in India. Rs.5 lakhs of income can then be considered as a good income per month to be considered as rich. Note Rs. 60 lakhs a year of income will put that person amongst the top 0.1% of the wealthiest as per the income tax data.

In terms of wealth, Rs.10 crore of wealth will easily generate 60 lakhs of income per year after tax if you put it conservatively into hybrid funds, SCSS, and FDs. Rs.1 crore of wealth on the other hand can give Rs.6 lakhs of income or Rs.50,000 p.m. which makes you middle class at best even not lower middle class. So to answer the question that I originally asked what is the wealth level to be considered rich in India – Rs. 1 crore, 10 crores, and 100 crores – The answer lies in the mid-ten crores. Someone might dispute and say Rs.20 crores while someone might say Rs.50 crores but for all practical purposes if you have Rs.10 crores then you can be said to live a very comfortable life in India if not rich.

Rs.100 crores on the other hand makes you ultra-rich in India if not by world standard. 100 crores or $12.5M is a lot of money and is considered rich by even international standards of high-income countries in Europe and the USA. Given that you live in India, you can be considered uber-wealthy with that kind of money. Note as per recent studies there are only 8-10 lakh people in India who have more than USD 1 million in wealth though some people might say that there are much more. But even if there are 20 lakh people this makes only 0.1% of India’s population.

Note Rs. 60 lakhs of income per year makes you also part of the top income tax slabs in the country. As per our government, anyone earning more than 15 lakhs a year is rich as it taxes them at the highest 30% tax slab. Also note with Rs.5 lakhs of income p.m. you can easily have a good house, car, and servants which is the definition of rich in my book in India with 2 holidays. You can also get the best of healthcare and education.

A recent report by Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) survey also says that households with more than Rs.50 lakhs income per year are considered rich and says that there are almost 30 lakh households with more than this income (which is more than the 8 lahks by tax data). The report considers Rs.2 crore as the super rich category which also makes sense.

Data Source: Business Standard

In summary, targeting Rs.10 crores of wealth in your lifetime is a good target to have in terms of your finances.