Athira Sethu
Kochi, 1 June 2026
The affluent class in India prefers privacy in regard to finances. It has been revealed by the income tax returns of the country that about 3.2 lakh Indians earn more than Rs.1 crore per year. However, according to the experts of the luxury cars’ industry, over 8.3 lakh families in India enjoy a net worth of over Rs.9 crores. Though this number seems substantial, it is actually an insignificant one when compared with the total population of 150 crore.
The affluent class enjoys immense social influence, and this is due to their small numbers. The people appreciate their success, and their accomplishments motivate others towards working hard for better income and future gains.
An important learning point that one can pick up from the wealthy concerns the handling of money. In contrast to what most people believe, there are many individuals in this category who do not concentrate on making their money grow. They rather concentrate on protecting the money they have accumulated, regardless of whether this money was acquired through inheritance or personal effort.
Ordinary investors attempt to understand the strategies used by professionals in managing financial resources. This can be achieved in part by analyzing mutual funds, which handle enormous amounts of money, with almost two-thirds being in equities or stocks. Much of this money is contributed by salary earners and other investors seeking sustainable growth.
Nevertheless, there are particular guidelines in mutual funds. For instance, the equity fund should invest primarily in stocks and cannot use the money for investing in debts. Due to those limitations, mutual fund portfolios will not fully depict the way affluent individuals manage their finances.
The right example might be a portfolio management service (PMS). Portfolio management services are meant to cater to rich people or well-off families who hire professional investment managers to operate on their behalf. Previously, one would need Rs 50 lakh or more to get access to PMS, but currently, that amount is not obligatory under certain regulations.
Today, the value of assets under management by the portfolio managers exceeds Rs 42 lakh crore. The majority of those resources is handled with discretion when it comes to making investment decisions.
However, what is interesting to note from the above statistics is the fact that by April 2026, out of all the funds managed using these programs, 84% were allocated towards investments in bonds, whereas merely 11% had been placed into stocks.
From this finding, we can learn a very important lesson – the fact that rich investors tend to prefer being safe rather than sorry, and do not risk their fortunes for greater profits.
