Indians bet on financial assets

Investment in gold, realty dip

The individual wealth in financial assets is expected to double in the next five years to `326.11 lakh crore driven mainly by a higher growth in the equity markets.

According to Karvy’s India Wealth Report 2015, the total wealth of individuals are expected to touch `474.79 lakh crore by FY20 out of which physical assets such as gold and real estate would account for 31.31 per cent while the financial assets such as equity, fixed deposits, insurance and savings deposits would constitute 68.69 per cent.

Currently, financial assets account for 57.25 per cent of the individuals total wealth.“For the new additional money being invested, FY15 has seen a reversal of trend with 54 per cent of the new money being invested in financial assets. This is in sharp contrast to the previous few years where only 35-40 per cent of new investments were being invested in financial assets and majority of investments went into physical assets,” said the report adding that the trend is expected to continue in the coming years owing to the upturn in the economy, better liquidity in financial assets and global reduction in prices of gold and gems.

Among various financial assets, direct equity has been the flavour of FY15 becoming the larg-est asset class of investments with a YoY growth of 29 per cent to Rs 34.4 lakh crore overtaking fixed deposits and bonds.