India tops China on new millionaires, keeps money the old way

If the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026 is anything to go by, acche din has arrived for a growing slice of Indians who are fast moving up the social ladder. India added 31,033 new US-dollar millionaires in 2025, more than twice mainland China’s 14,079. India’s millionaire count rose 3.4% in the year against China’s 0.3%, though China is working off a far bigger base. For all the talk of the dragon breathing fire while the elephant lags on infrastructure and industrial heft, this is one scorecard where India comes out ahead. But the shape of that wealth carries a pattern policymakers will want to watch, because even as Indians get richer, they still don’t store their wealth the way the West does.UBS defines wealth as financial assets plus real assets, principally housing, minus debt.