A joint report by New World Wealth and LIO Global said, India has seen the second biggest outflow of high net worth individuals in the last 14 years, with as many as 61,000 millionaires shifting their base to abroad due to reasons like tax, security and child education, second only to China which saw an outflow of 91,000 ultra-rich persons in the same period. Despite the large-scale exodus of millionaires, both China and India still have plenty of wealthy citizens who chose to stay back.
“Indian High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) tend to move to the UAE, the UK, the US and Australia, Chinese HNWIs mainly moved to the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK” the report said.
According to Nadia Read, head of world residence and citizenship platform LIO Global: “the main reason people apply for a second residence or citizenship is to ensure freedom of global mobility and access, as well as security and wealth protection for their families.”
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Other countries which have seen significant HNWI outflows includes France (42,000), Italy (23,000), Russia (20,000), Indonesia (12,000), South Africa (8,000) and Egypt (7,000).
The report says Indians like to move to countries like Australia and the United Arab Emirates, while Singapore and Hong Kong are popular destinations for China’s wealthy.
Most of the HNWIs who has moved to the UK came from Europe, Russia, China and India. There were also substantial numbers that came from the Middle-East and Africa, the report added. Inflows to the US predominantly came from China, while the UK, India and Russia made up for a sizeable number. Most migrations to Singapore happened from China, India and Indonesia.
According to Read: “the majority of investors are typically looking towards the EU. Cyprus and Malta, in particular, are very popular as they offer direct citizenship without long waiting or residence periods. Portugal’s Golden Residence Visa, as well as the Hungarian Residence Bond program, have also seen significant interest, as they offer investors residence in exchange for a smaller investment (in comparison to Malta or Cyprus). The Caribbean has also recently seen strong demand as countries such as Antigua and Barbuda or Grenada offer direct citizenship in under 6 months.”
By Premji
