Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles on a report by Kotak Wealth Management, an arm of India’s Kotak Mahindra, and CRISIL Research entitled "Top Of the Pyramid India, Decoding the Ultra HNI", which looks into behavioural trends within the UHNW segment in India. 

The total net worth of Indian ultra high net worth households is expected to surge fivefold to 235 trillion crore (some $52.4 billion) in 2015-16 from an estimated 45 trillion crore in 2010-11, according to a new report by Kotak Wealth Management, an arm of India’s Kotak Mahindra, and CRISIL Research, entitled Top Of the Pyramid India, Decoding the Ultra HNI.

The report estimates that there are around 62,000 UHNW households in India in 2010-2011, with a minimum net worth of 250 million crore, a number which is said to represent only 0.03 per cent of the total households in India. By 2015-16 the number of UHNW households will triple to 219,000, says the report.

The report comprises three parts, beginning with Profiling: The Inheritor, the Self-made and the Professional, looking at the different routes to accumulating wealth in India.

The report is based on two main strands of research: a series of interviews were conducted with senior personnel at major global luxury brands, art gallery owners, product dealers and industry body representatives; and a market survey, which took place between December 2010 and February 2011, of some 150 UHNW individuals across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.