Ultra-wealthy Indians reassessing attitudes on succession plans: Knight Frank

Nearly 84 per cent of India's ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) have reassessed their attitudes to succession planning in light of Covid-19, according to global property consultancy Knight Frank's latest attitudes survey released on Tuesday.

An UHNWI is defined with 30 million dollars (about Rs 217 crore) or more.

On a global level, about 60 per cent of UHNWIs have reassessed their succession planning during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNHWI's from countries like Canada (90 per cent), Turkey (85 per cent) and South Africa (80 per cent) redefined succession planning during the pandemic.According to the survey, 30 per cent of ultra-wealthy Indians placed transferring of wealth to the next generation in the top three worries than 16 per cent who see it as an exciting opportunity.

In the global context, 28 per cent of UHNWIs respondents positioned this in the top three worries and 23 per cent of respondents see opportunity in 2021.

Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank India, said the hard-hit global pandemic has disproportionately affected the older generations for growing wealth, making them reassess their succession planning attitudes.

"The younger generation can lead their wealth to new heights as they come equipped with a different thinking process and tech-savvy background. Despite being a challenging year for the Indian economy and some sectors, Indian UHNWIs are more optimistic about the country's economic growth and expect their wealth to increase in the year 2021."

In the attitudes survey, 89 per cent of Indian UHNWIs respondents opined that new investments opportunities opening up in the post-Covid world will largely excite them for wealth creation.

While 61 per cent expect that technology disruption will also play a vital role, 23 per cent of ultra-wealthy Indians expect an improvement in domestic government policy will help them grow wealth.The overall attitudes survey is based on responses from more than 600 private bankers, wealth advisors and family offices representing a combined wealth of more than 3.3 trillion dollars.

( With inputs from ANI )