What do India’s fabulously rich do with their money?

Jewellery. When India’s ultra high net worth individuals buy collectibles, they rush to buy jewellery. And when they buy alternative assets, they buy gold or silver — safe assets that we might think a cautious middle-class investor would choose when spending that little extra money. In fact, there’s a lot about what the ultra-rich do with their money that might seem surprising, a new survey by the Kotak Private Banking division shows.The report, called Top of the Pyramid, puts together the findings of conversations with 150 ultra high net worth individuals (which, for this survey, meant people with net worths of Rs 25 crore or more) in 12 Indian cities about how they spend and invest their money. The report says that “growing affluence” works to “blur the line between luxury and necessity”. But the findings show how India’s rich often remain — if it’s the right word — restrained in how they use their wealth. medium120455628A lot depends on what kind of super-rich you’re looking atThe report classifies ultra high net worth individuals into three categories.The entrepreneur, whose wealth comes from success in their primary business.The inheritor, whose wealth comes from their family business.The professional, whose wealth comes from their personal income.Each has a different approach to making and spending money. For instance, the entrepreneur, the report says, spends to attain a luxurious lifestyle while a professional spends to get value for money. Or when an inheritor thinks about wealth creation, they focus on wealth preservation — while an entrepreneur is driven by a sense of self-recognition. The entrepreneur isn’t bound by ‘old money’ restraint. But the others areBecause the motivations are different, the priorities are also different for each category. For instance, the inheritor doesn’t care much about memberships to elite, private clubs. But the professional is the most enthusiastic about this access. The professional is, in turn, not that into collectibles. But the entrepreneur is twice as likely to think of it as an important expense.Across the board, the professional is far more likely to be cautious about what they spend their money on. The inheritor is less hung up on the visible aspects of wealth (maybe because they grew up with it). And the entrepreneur seems to be all about maxxing out. medium120455639But look at the chart again. No one is really into luxury assets as much as you’d imagine. Even among the ultra-rich group that thinks of them as essential expenses, the entrepreneurs, it’s just a 10% minority that prioritises it. They all agree on the basics — kids’ education, wellness and … household expensesWhen they were asked what they have increased their spending on, the answer was a surprisingly normal one — household expenses, more than 90% across all three categories said. Obviously, the expenses of a super-rich household are going to be different. But the report also found that these expenses — for running the household — are the second highest for them (after investment into the primary business). So, it’s high and about to get higher.The other things they said they are increasing their expenses on are their children’s education and health. Across the board. “Ultra-HNIs opt for premium international schools in India and foreign institutions for tertiary education,” the report said. “These factors have significantly increased the financial commitment needed” for a child’s education. Likewise, they are “placing a greater emphasis on their comprehensive well-being — both physical and mental”. In their actual spending, as well, luxury assets come last. medium120455650And overall, the super-rich are not splurging on unconventional choices. YetWhen Indian ultra high net worth individuals invest, they largely put their money into equity (32% listed it as the top investment choice). Which makes sense because the only major global market that outperformed Indian stock markets over the last decade was the American one. And that is the other place where they placed their money — a third of those surveyed said they were invested in US equity. The second most common choice, meanwhile, was real estate (29%). And here, the flight of the wealthy from India comes in — more than half the ultra high net worth people who are in the process of leaving the country or plan to do so in the future have already invested in residential real estate abroad, the survey found.Neither choice is unconventional. It is something our own middle class has been doing as well — putting 7% of their financial savings into stocks, up from 1.8% a decade ago, and 70% of their household savings into physical assets, slightly up from 67% a decade ago.Where the Indian super-rich dither the most is digital assets. About 77% of those in the survey do not have any digital asset in their portfolio. Why? The report says it’s because of “regulatory uncertainties”. So, internationally, “investments into digital assets seem to go ahead full steam” but Indian participation has been “muted”. In terms of investment choices, it’s not too different from what young wealthy investors across the world do with their wealth. “While cryptocurrencies, venture capital or prized art pieces may generate the headlines, the younger affluent generation is still drawn to the classic trio of stocks, property and cash, which remain the most popular investment avenues across income levels,” the 2025 wealth report by Knight Frank says. In fact, even within alternate assets, which as a class accounts for just about 18% of the portfolio allocation of Indian ultra high net worth individuals, the largest share by far is that of gold and silver bullion. This preference for familiar territory is the most evident when the super-rich buy collectibles. The easiest choice is jewellery. And “there is a declining sentiment towards handbags, antiques and sports bikes, while there is an (increasing) sentiment towards vintage automobile and collectible coins,” the report said. Even for NFTs, which hold a surprisingly high third position on this list, the interest in buying more is a much lower 24% than, say, buying more art (46%) or — on expected lines — more jewellery (79%). medium120455658 medium120455667So, is it caution or control? The spending of the Indian ultra-rich is rooted in legacy logic — land, equity, gold. Which are all things where volatility is slightly more negotiable than in, say, the unknown terrain of digital assets or contemporary collectibles (like sneakers or speculative art or trading cards or rare comic books). Are the basics of money the same for them then — bound by knowable rules, and navigable risks? The only difference being the humongous difference in how much of it they have?