BANGALORE THIRD RICHEST CITY IN INDIA

BANGALORE: Bangaloreans are getting seriously rich, millionaires by the dollar yardstick. The city is the third-largest hub for high-networth individuals (HNIs), after Mumbai and Delhi. Bangalore is home to over 10,000 individual dollar millionaires and around 60,000 super-rich people who have an investable surplus of Rs 4.5 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively. In this Richie-Rich class are professionals, retirees, entrepreneurs, consultants, US-returned Indians and expats. According to a study conducted by American Express, there are 83,000 HNIs and 7,11,000 super-rich people in India and the latter figure is expected to cross a million by 2009. While Mumbai and Delhi account for the bulk of this number, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata had shared the third position until recently. Bangalore's share in the mutual fund market is an index of its wealth. In March 2006, the city has seen mutual fund investments worth Rs 22,000 crore against Rs 8,000 crore in June 2004. Also, in 2006, its invested individual wealth — across all forms of financial instruments like stocks, shares, securities, debentures, mutual funds, etc — was $25 billion, as compared to $200 billion in Mumbai and $50 billion in Delhi. Some of the key drivers of this wealth are a large number of rich Indians moving back to Bangalore from abroad, the city incubating dozens of high-value entrepreneurs and companies creating wealth for professionals by way of ESOPs and other options. "India is the fastest growing wealth base in Asia Pacific and here too, Bangalore is growing faster than the industry average of 35%," said Vishal Kapoor, head & senior director (financial advisory services), American Express India. The HNI base is growing at 19.2% in the country and Bangalore records a greater momentum. To tap this wealth, American Express is hosting an exclusive dinner and Elvis Presley music — Heartbreak Hotel — for around 300 select super-rich couples in the city. Amex has also brought in a wide range of highly-protected items from the personal collection of Presley's family. These include his records, costumes, letters, manual jottings that later became popular numbers and albums, his social security card, condolence wires sent by eminent personalities from around the world and tickets to his maiden concert.