Hurun India founder and managing director Anas Rahman Junaid.
Hurun India founder and managing director Anas Rahman Junaid has been tracking India’s wealth-creators and billionaires for a decade. He thinks India’s story has just begun—Hurun’s first Rich List in 2012 had 59 billionaires in India, the number now stands at 237.
As entrepreneurial wealth rises, India will be busy minting billionaires, at least 500 over the next five years. There is more, for every rich lister, there are two unknown persons who are similarly wealthy, says Junaid in an interview to Moneycontrol. Edited excerpts:
The IIFL Wealth-Hurun India Rich List 2021 has more than 1,000 people with a net worth of over Rs 1,000 crore. Given the entrepreneurial surge in India, how do you see wealth creation panning out in the next five years?
I’m expecting our rich list to grow three times to 3,000 people in the next five years. I’m talking about known, identified names with over Rs 1,000 crore of wealth. I see new-found wealth being created by all those CXOs (chief experience officers) in start-ups that have become unicorns. Many of them could now set up new companies, provide ESOPs to employees and the cycle of wealth will continue. We have seen that happen with Flipkart and the same could repeat with companies like Freshworks.
Our calculation is that for every rich lister, there will be two unknown persons who are similarly wealthy. There will be 9,000-10,000 unknown/unidentified names in five years, up from 3,000-3,500 now in our annual Rich List.
Also read: 42 real estate developers on IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021
How many billionaires do you expect to emerge in the next five years from India officially?
When we started doing the Rich List back in 2012, we had counted 59 billionaires in India. Now we are at 237, having grown 4x. After five years, I expect to see a minimum of 500 billionaires.
The number of billionaires is a function of the number of billion-dollar companies. I am stoked that over the last 10 years, wealth is being created out of more sectors. Ten years ago, 19 sectors were represented in our annual rich list and now that number has risen to 46.
Also read: Forbes India Rich List 2021: See who is back in Top-10 club
Which sectors will drive this growth?
The start-up and tech sector will continue to drive momentum. Watch out for the electric vehicles and the financial services segments. There will also be challengers emerging in banking, FMCG and food & beverages players (D2C) markets. I see billionaires being created out of all these sectors.
Considerable wealth will get generated in the chemicals and cement space, along with the real estate sector as well.
We have a lot of potential in the art market. There are a number of art collectors in China who are multi-millionaires, apart from those in the US and Europe. This is an area where there can be significant growth.
Also read: Mukesh Ambani retains top slot on Forbes Rich List with $ 92-billion wealth
The new-age wealthy are getting younger.
Gen-Z, which we count at present as those who are born in the 1990s and beyond, was represented by 13 people in this year’s rich list. In five years, I expect to see that number going up to 100. Our demographic advantage is significant. This year’s youngest rich lister was Shashvat Nakrani, the 23-year-old founder of payments app BharatPe.
Which are the missing pieces?
In areas like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, space tech and 5G, we don’t have a huge presence yet. We don’t have too many home-grown billionaires in these areas, unlike let’s say in edtech or fintech.
For instance, as per the Hurun Global Unicorn List 2021, there are 85 AI unicorns globally but India has none. As far as the electric vehicle ecosystem is concerned, there are 23 global unicorns and India has one (Ola Electric). There are 15 spacetech unicorns worldwide but India has none.
