MUMBAI:

Tokyo might have the second highest number of ultra-highnet-worth individuals in the world, with over 3,700 Richie Richs, but private jet use by the wealthy in Mumbai is about 20% higher than those in the capital city of Japan, according to the latest

Wealth Report 2018.

The devil though lies in the details. The report looked at private jet flights operated out of the largest international airport in the cities concerned. Since Mumbai has only one airport, all the corporate jets take off from the lone Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, as compared to other global mega cities—most of which have more than one airport, including dedicated airports for private jet flights.

In 2018,

handled 1,516 private jet departures, which was about 8% higher than what was handled by the

(1,400), and approximately 20% higher than Tokyo International airport (1,202), according to the report. Mumbai was ranked 146 in the private jet departures category, while Tokyo and Dubai were at 163 and 154 respectively.

New York’s Teterboro airport was ranked number 1, with 66,968 private flights operated last year. Not surprisingly, North America with 13,685 flights has the highest number of active business jets, followed by Europe, Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (2,879), which has second highest active business jets. This was followed by Latin America (718), Asia-Pacific (487), Middle East (198) and Africa (135).

The report also listed cities with the highest number of ultra high net worth individual (UHNWI). London topped the with 4,944 UHNWIs, followed by Tokyo (3,732),

Singapore

(3,598) and New York (3,378). As for India, the UHNWI population grew by 30% in the past five years, it said. Mumbai had maximum number of UHNWIs at 797, followed by Delhi (211). By 2023, Mumbai will have 1,101 UHNWIs and Delhi 291, both registering a 38 % growth.

“The results of our survey found that 24% of Indian UHNWIs have property investments, excluding first and second homes, outside India, up from 21% the previous year,” it said. Then again, Indian buyers are typically attracted by world-class education opportunities for their children, new business ventures and stable investment returns. “Coveted markets such as London,

Melbourne

and Dubai draw significant interest. However, other markets, particularly in Cyprus,

and Sri Lanka, are also proving popular with Indian investors,” the report said.

Despite the restrictions in place under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), there is a clear and growing interest from Indians to invest abroad. The LRS permits each resident, as of May 2015, to remit up to US$2,50,000 overseas per financial year. “Since the implementation of the higher limit, Indian residents have sent nearly US$30 billion overseas, with remittances up by 144% between the 2015/16 and 2017/18 financial years,” it said.