16,000 today, 26,000 by 2030: India’s wealthy club is getting bigger

India now has over 300 family offices managing more than $30 billion in assets, reflecting the rapid growth of the country’s ultra-wealthy population and the increasing sophistication of wealth management, according to The Indian Family Offices Report ’26 released by The Economic Times and 1Lattice.

The report said India trails only the United States and China in adding new ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), underlining the country’s expanding wealth ecosystem.

The number of high-net-worth families with wealth exceeding $30 million is projected to rise from 16,000 in 2025 to around 26,000 by 2030. At the same time, India is expected to witness an intergenerational wealth transfer of $1.3-1.5 trillion over the next decade.

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Family offices play a key role in managing wealth and risk, creating investment strategies aligned with a family’s long-term vision, overseeing private affairs, and facilitating active wealth creation, including cross-border investments.

Speaking at a panel discussion during the report’s launch in Mumbai on Tuesday, Ashvini Chopra, Head of Family Office at Avendus, said managing wealth today extends far beyond investments.

“Governance, custodianship, tax planning, residency planning and shareholding structuring all become a part and parcel of managing wealth,” Chopra said.

The report also highlighted the growing influence of younger family members in investment decisions. More than 50% of Indian family offices now involve millennial or Gen Z family members in the investment process, while nearly 30% of next-generation investors prefer allocating capital to startups, particularly in health tech, fintech and AI.

The shift is also changing the role of wealthy business families. Increasingly, the next generation is focusing on managing and deploying capital rather than running operating businesses.

“Some of the large family offices have monetised some of the operating business, and those businesses are now being professionally managed,” said Rinkoo Somani, Group Chief Financial Officer at Dani Family Office. These families, she said, are more focused on deploying the capital.