The three Indias: Making sense of the great economic divide
India is third on the list of countries with the wealthiest billionaires. Meanwhile, less than 38% of households own a refrigerator.
What does ultra-high net worth mean? How many are they and how do they live? What of India’s poorest? Who are we, as a country, once the slim upper crust has been peeled away?
Split three ways
The Indus Valley Annual Report 2025, published by venture capital firm Blume Ventures, divides India into three categories: India 1, representing the wealthiest 10% of the population; India 2, representing the middle 23%; and the vast swathe of India 3.
*
Ranked on its own as a country, India 1 would have a population of 140 million spread across 30 million households, and would be the 10th-largest country in the world. Its per capita income would stand at $15,000 (about ₹12.80 lakh).
This would place it at 63rd position on the list of countries by per capita income
For perspective, Oman, which is at 54 on the real list, has a per capita income of $20,000.
* ₹2.55 lakh
India 2 or the “aspirant class”, consisting of about 23% of the population, would be made up of 70 million households and 300 million people, and would have a per capita income of $3,000 (about ₹2.55 lakh).
* ₹85,000
India 3 would consist of 1 billion people across 205 million households, the entire “bottom” 67% of the economy. Per capita income here stands at $1,000 (about ₹85,000).
* ₹2.12 lakh
How badly do averages skew perception? In 2023, India’s average per capita income was placed at $2,500, or about ₹2.12 lakh.
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Who are the wealthiest?
* 3.7%
of the world’s HNI individuals are Indian citizens, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025, released in March. They define HNI as a net worth of $10 million or more.
* 85,698 people
Indians met this mark, according to the Knight Frank report.
* 3rd
India is third on the list of countries with the wealthiest billionaires. Indian billionaires collectively hold an estimated $950 billion in wealth, coming in immediately after the US ($5.7 trillion) and Mainland China ($1.34 trillion).
* 191
is the number of billionaires in India, as of 2025, according to the Knight Frank report
* 26
of these billionaires joined the ranks over the financial year 2023-24 alone. A big jump from seven new billionaires in 2019
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How do they spend?
* Jewellery beats all other collectibles among India’s super-rich, according to the Top of the Pyramid report released by Kotak Private Banking in association with the financial consultancy Ernst & Young, in March.
* 94% of the 150 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) surveyed said they invest in jewellery. Art came in second, with interest from 73%. (For the purposes of this survey, UHNI was defined as people with a net worth of $30 million or more.)
* About 7% of UHNI expenses were allocated for foreign travel. On the list of must-have were luxury stays in historic or brag-worthy properties such as castles, chateaux and underwater hotels.
* 20% of UHNIs surveyed were either planning to or were in the process of moving to another country while retaining their Indian citizenship. About 65% of these were aiming for the US, with another 32% aiming for the UK.
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Meanwhile… at the other end of the spectrum
37.9%
of households in India own a refrigerator
23.7%
own an air conditioner or cooler
18%
own a washing machine
According to the India National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-2021), the last year for which such data is available.
