The Global Indian

ARE HIGH NET WORTH individuals (HNIs) leaving India for greener pastures abroad? There has in recent years been a pervasive narrative that wealthy Indians are "fleeing" India because doing business overseas is easier and less taxing. India is plagued by poor infrastructure, over-regulation, corruption, and social polarisation.

- Minhaz Merchant

How accurate is this narrative? The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2023, released recently, says the number of wealthy Indians leaving India has actually fallen. In 2021-22, 7,500 rich Indians (defined as those with investible wealth of over $1 million - Rs 8.2 crore) left India. That number dropped to 6,500 in 2022-23.

How do other countries fare? In China, which has a population similar to India's, the outflow of Chinese HNIs is twice as large as India. In 2022-23, 13,500 wealthy Chinese migrated abroad, a sharp increase over 10,800 in 2021-22.

The credibility of the narrative of an Indian HNI exodus is further eroded by examining the numbers of wealthy individuals leaving a small country like Britain. According to the Henley Report, 3,200 British HNIs "fled" the United Kingdom for greener pastures abroad in 2022-23. More pertinently, the British exodus doubled from 1,600 in 2021-22. India was one of the few countries where the number of HNIS leaving the country fell between 2021-22 and 2022-23.

That doesn't mean the Indian government is as investor-friendly as it should be Compliance measures and regulation have become onerous in recent years.