Indian rich people

Indian rich are big show-offs-who say most of their treasures such as jewellery, art and antiques are collected for display.  Indian millionaires prefer to hold their wealth in financial assets, but when they do buy valuable treasures it's with the objective of preserving financial value rather than for personal pleasure.  According to a survey by Barclays "Profits or Pleasure", which delves into the motivation behind treasure trends, the rationale for accumulating treasure varies considerably across countries.

The report reproduces a survey of the rich (those with investible assets over one million pounds) across various countries. As against the Chinese rich who hold 6% of their wealth in assets like fine art, precious jewellery and antique furniture, the Indian millionaires park only 3% of their wealth in treasures such as precious jewellery, classic automobiles and antique furniture. In other countries such as Singapore, Brazil and Hong Kong the percentage is much higher at 16%, 15% and 14% respectively.

According to the survey, the social motivation is particularly strong in emerging markets like India. Respondents from India said that 75% of their treasure is collected, in part, because they like to show it to people, while the figure for China is 52%. By contrast the figures for UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Japan are less than 20%. But such display and ownership of valuables has a positive impact on society.

 The report points out those wealthy collectors, who put up their collection for display in museums or exhibitions, play an important role in enriching cultural life.  Of the various treasures chosen by the rich, top of the list is precious jewellery with 70% of those polled having invested money in jewellery. Jewellery is followed by fine art pictures and paintings (49%) and antique furniture (37%).  Incidentally, in India 98% of the rich owned precious jewellery which is the highest percentage across the world.

 Going for gold  Respondents said 75% of treasure is collected as they like to show it to people (figure for China is 52%)  Treasure list is topped by precious jewellery (70%), followed by fine art (49%) and antique furniture (37%)  Report pointed out that displays of valuables had a positive impact on society by enriching cultural life