Markets, not savings, drove majority of global wealth creation in 2025, says report — Did India benefit from the boom?

Market gains, rather than new household savings, drove most of the growth in global financial wealth last year, according to the Allianz Global Wealth Report 2026. But the extent to which households benefited from this depended on where they invested, particularly their exposure to equities.

The data indicates that saving more does not necessarily mean building more wealth, as the returns generated by different asset classes can have a major impact on how quickly household financial assets grow over time.

How much wealth did stock market boom create?

The past three years have been particularly rewarding for risk-taking investors as strong stock-market gains boosted the value of securities in their portfolios. Between 2023 and 2025, securities grew by an average 12.1% annually, compared with 5.2% for bank deposits and 5.9% for insurance and pension assets.

This trend continued in 2025, as the value of securities such as shares, bonds and investment funds held by households rose 12.4%. This was more than twice the growth in bank deposits (5.7%) and insurance and pension assets (5%).

Markets accounted for about four-fifths of the increase in global financial wealth in 2025, while fresh savings declined 5.4% to €4.1 trillion ( ₹445.59 lakh crore), the Allianz report, published on Wednesday, noted.

Did India benefit from the stock market boom?

Gross financial assets held by Indian households increased 9% in 2025 to $5.3 trillion, Allianz’s report said. The growth was slightly higher than the global average of 8.6%, but lower than the 9.8% average recorded by Asian economies covered by the report, excluding Japan and China.

Traditional deposits, however, remained the largest component of Indian household financial assets, accounting for 40.2% of the portfolio. Securities made up 32.7%, while life insurance and pension assets accounted for 26.7%.

Growth also varied across financial asset products. Insurance and pension assets recorded the fastest growth at 11.4%, followed by bank deposits at 9.8% and securities at 6.1%. The relatively lower growth and smaller share of securities meant Indian households had less exposure to the market gains that drove much of the increase in global financial wealth.

Wealth remains concentrated

Wealth in India remains concentrated in a few hands. The richest 10% of Indian households held 65% of the country’s net financial assets in 2025.

India’s net financial assets per capita stood at $2,539 in 2025, up 6.8% from a year earlier. The country ranked 49th in Allianz’s ranking of countries by net financial assets per capita, unchanged from the previous year.

The figures highlight that growth in household wealth is not evenly distributed. Differences in asset ownership and exposure to market-linked investments can influence how much individual households benefit from rising financial assets.