Jagoinvestor

August 20, 2015

When can you call yourself RICH in India? [SURVEY of 381 people]

Are you RICH or not? Do you have enough income or networth, so that others will consider you RICH in India? This is all this post is about.

I was day dreaming about get RICH few days back (I do it every week) and visualising how much should I earn so that I can call myself as RICH and how much net worth I should have, so that people would start considering me RICH? Is it 1 crore or 10 crore ? Is income of 5 lacs a year or 20 lacs will make me look RICH in others eyes?

Are you RiCH

So, I created a survey around this topic and 381 people took that survey. But before I share the survey results below, note that the group which took this survey does not represent the common man on street. This survey is mostly taken by net-savvy high-income earners, which only represents the higher income group. These people are on web, work in big companies and are considered to be doing very well in life by society.

How much Income makes you RICH ?

One of the questions asked in the survey was – “In India, How much yearly income one should earn, so that you will call him RICH ?” . Below are the results

RICH in India - by Income

As you can see above, only if you are earning more than 20 lacs a year, most of the people will consider you as RICH, otherwise you will be seen as middle class which is a very big range and not defined at all in our society. People earning 1 lac a year, 5 lac a year and 12 lac a year – they all call themselves as “Middle class”. Let me share some important stats with you on income.

As per a website www.globalrichlist.com if you earn the income of 10 lacs a year, you would be in top 0.22% of the population globally. Can you believe that !

globalrichlist ranking for India

This means that if there are around 1000 people in the world, almost 997 people earn less than you if you earn Rs 10 lacs a year. Hence, you should be quite happy about this fact, but obviously we don’t think that way. We look at people above us and keep cursing how bad we are doing in life.

What networth makes you RICH in India in other’s eyes?

The next question I asked was – “In India, How much networth a person should have, so that you can call him RICH ?”. Below were the results

Are you RICH india by networth

If you look at the chart above, only 1 out of 4 people will call you RICH if you have 2 crores of networth in today’s value. 48% people who took the survey feel that anything above 2-10 crores is a good networth to be called RICH. Some even said 50 crores and 100 crores.

Forget crores! . What if you have a net worth of 100,000 Dollars or just approx Rs 60 lacs in wealth ? How rich are you?

As per a research published in 2013 by Credit Suisse, if your net worth is above Rs 60 lacs, you are among the richest 8% in the world and richest 0.4% in India. Think once again !

Out of every 1000 people in country, 995 people are below you in terms of net worth. I know some will say, that there is black money and many are there who do not disclose their income. Yes – that’s true, but we can’t find out how many are there like that. Even if you consider that, still you would be doing very very well.  Below is the snapshot from the report.

How rich are you because of your networth

Note that – we are not talking about ASSETS here, but Networth, which is ASSETS – LIABILITIES. A lot of people hold real-estate whose value they consider, but they forget to account for the home loan and other liabilities. So a lot of people who feel they have high net worth actually don’t have it.

Along with most countries in the developing world, personal wealth in India is heavily skewed towards property and other real assets, which make up 86% of household assets. 

- Credit Suisse Report 2013

But feeling RICH is a state of mind

I know a lot of people will say that “feeling rich” is a state of mind and we should not just evaluate it with money. Agree to that. I am of the same opinion that it’s not others who will decide if you are RICH or not, but only YOU.

But thats not this article is all about. We are purely look at how others perceive your RICHNESS by income and your wealth.

Most of the people are not happy with their current status

Let me give us some interesting information. If you have low income or networth and you are not happy about it. You should know that majority are like you only, even though they are on high income.

I asked another question in the survey – “Are you happy with your current Salary and Networth ?”

Guess what was the result?

On an average, most of the people are not happy if they are earning less than 10 lacs a year. I can understand that 10 lacs a year is not a very high income these days, especially in big cities. And if you consider the expenses, home loan EMI, education costs and lifestyle expenses, a lot of people are literally struggling to keep pace with rising expenses.

What looks a great salary to people in small cities, is not that amazing in big cities these days. Here is the result of survey, showing you how many people are happy or unhappy about their current income and net worth.

income and happiness

If you see people in higher income bracket which is more than 10 lacs a year, almost half of the people said that they are happy and another half said they are not. But one thing is very visible that in the higher range of income, most people said they are happy (I am not sure if they are really happy or not, but they said they are) compared to the people in lower range of income. To some level, we all can relate to it.

You are doing well at absolute level

After I did this article, I got a feeling how much our lives have got messed up due to money. We are literally lost in this world with the sole objective of earning money. You should be more happy about what you have achieved and not be unhappy about what you have not earned.

I am not saying that you should not be aspirational. Surely, you should have a higher target each year, but dont feel unhappy about what you have created till date. Let’s slow down a bit.

Wealth is important, very important, but also cherish and be proud of how you have done well till date compared to millions of others who are struggling in life due to money issues

You are way ahead of majority. Congratulations for that.

Let us know what you think about this whole article. What are your thoughts on who is RICH? What’s you definition of RICH in your own terms?

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92 Comments
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Jaikrishna
Jaikrishna
6 months ago

Beautiful article cum study , although I am reading it very late , in 2024

Vivek
Vivek
3 years ago

Waw…. I can’t imagine I have got the answer!

This question raise a lot of time to figure out I’m i rich, how much money I should make to consider rich etc

Things clear today. Thank man!

A question:

What percentage of our wealth we should invest for future and how much should we spend to enjoy life also

Navneet
Navneet
8 years ago

Some people are born stupid. You are one of them.

Rajesh
Rajesh
Reply to  Navneet
8 years ago

Navneet,
Atleast have some basic manners and how to write in public, even if you dont agree with what the article says, you should say that you dont agree with it and give your disagreement.It shows your Immaturedness.

Rooky P
Rooky P
Reply to  Rajesh
3 years ago

Exactly, Rajesh. Good you spoke out about the bad manner of speaking used by @navneet.

Ankur
Ankur
8 years ago

I have 10 lakh rupees if I give this money to my mother and they invest it in FDR then interest received will be their income and I can save tax is that possible. Pls guide

nitin
nitin
8 years ago

ye sab faltu hai.ye manish chauhan hi faltu aadmi hai.tu kaun hota hai ye decide krne wala ki hm aamir hai ya nahi

Nandkishor
Nandkishor
8 years ago

Hello sir, im Nandkishor (last year polymer science student) Can i get rich in india if i do 5-7 Years job in abroad ? I wants to set up buisness in our country.

Remo
Remo
8 years ago

You say 85% of the people consider you rich if you earn more than 20L pa. But according to your data,
no. of People consider you rich if you earn:
more than 1cr 30%
more than 50L 31%
more than 20L 24%
more than 10L 12%
more than 5L 3%
And on basis of this you say 85% consider you rich if you earn more than 20L, but adding up these 3 values seems wrong, consider a person earning 24L, only (3+12+24 =) 39% of the people would consider him rich, not 85%

Sorry for this small nitpick, The overall message of your article is priceless.

Anon
Anon
8 years ago

This question cannot and should not be decided based on opinions, that is totally useless as data since it only gives idea of what people think and not on how they measure.
One thing we can all agree is that one can be considered rich if he/she doesn’t have to work for a living.

Veeresh
Veeresh
8 years ago

Simple and pragmatic article on a simple survey! Brings out good insights beyond hypothetical statements!

Sameer
Sameer
8 years ago

I feel anyone earning more than his/her need or requirements is a rich person……I repeat anyone earning more than what their spouse can spend is a rich person. and I don’t know whether it is achievable ever or not.

Ravi
Ravi
8 years ago

Hello Manish,
Unknowingly I have deposited about 23 lakhs as fixed deposits. Is there anyway now to avoid tax when it gets matured ?

Ravi
Ravi
Reply to  Jagoinvestor
8 years ago

Thanks!!!

Ravi
Ravi
Reply to  Ravi
8 years ago

But Manish, Could you please suggest me a saving option where I would get guaranteed 8% returns on this. I am not planning to touch this until 15 yrs from now.

Thanks in advance.

vipul
vipul
Reply to  Ravi
7 years ago

Put this money in PPF then

Abhi
Abhi
9 years ago

And yes the villa has cost me INR 75 Lakhs !
And I am a ” Sarkari Company” employee.

Abhi
Abhi
9 years ago

My gross salary for last year was 20 Lakhs something. I bought a 3500 sq ft villa at Jaipur, for which I have an EMI of 26500/-. Now My in hand salary ranges from 50000- 80000 per month.
I am more then happy.

AshwaniChouhan
AshwaniChouhan
9 years ago

Thanks Manish for useful information you provide us and an equally interesting topic to talk about. Measuring happiness on the parameter of money or richness scale is a complex idea. Simply said “Money does not necessarily makes you rich or brings happiness but happiness definitely can make/motivate you to become happy and rich”. From very humble beginning to sending kids today to renowned school, my journey was satisfying and happy. But i feel what bothers people is the uncertainty in the continuity of their present state of income and their ability in controlling it !!

Krish
Krish
9 years ago

I would say anyone would feel rich if they are saving decent money after all expenses. If one does not have back up (parents support, inheritance, own savings), continuing in job just to meet the monthly bills would create extreme unhappiness and make one feel lot unhappier.

My salary moved from 20 lacs category and let me share my story. Irrespective of my income, I was happy in all my jobs. But was unhappy in life due to my loans which I could not clear off due to low income. Felt top of the world when I became debt free. My definition of rich is simple that one should have savings and debt free that includes no home loan.

J
J
9 years ago

Happiness is a state of mind.

Prabodhan
Prabodhan
9 years ago

Whatever someones income would be, if he is not complaining about increasing price of onion, then we can call him RICH. (Based on todays situation)

Loki
Loki
Reply to  Prabodhan
9 years ago

Well Said brother…….!!

Prabodhan
Prabodhan
Reply to  Jagoinvestor
9 years ago

Hi Manish,

Can I have your official email Id? I have personal message for you.

Regards,
Prabodhan

Shakil
Shakil
9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/user/FinanceTubebyVishalT/featured. Apart from reading the blogs, I feel the best way to learn finance is to watch videos. This is one good channel, I think you can subscribe to.

Pankajphukan
Pankajphukan
9 years ago

Yes Dr. Manish , it’s truly eye opener…but we have have those eyes ..which we unable to keep open …so shuts down very early…
Anyway a very nice and worthy publish..

ajay
ajay
9 years ago

If your net worth is 10000000 (one crore) than u r 1 and all other is 0000000 so without u the result is big zero. The best assets is u r (THE 1) so be happy.
very nice article, the information is healthy.