The Indian Moneyed Class

The number of Indians who have financial assets of over $1 million, excluding main residences, now stands at 127,000, the 2010 World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch. According to a new survey of 160 financial advisors by a private banking arm of Citibank, Indians are the most likely members of the global super rich to spend more on private jets and yachts over the next few years. The Indian luxury market as whole is forecast to triple to $15 billion by 2015.

For the moneyed classes, it's increasingly about flaunting their wealth in ways typical of the nouveaux riches in Russia, China or the Middle East. At glitzy Emporio mall in New Delhi, chauffeur-driven Mercedes, BMWs and the occasional Rolls-Royce or Bentley regularly pull up to disgorge wealthy occupants to shop at boutiques where handbags retail for $2,000 and much more. Many prosperous Indians are embracing conspicuous consumption, turning their backs on the mantra of frugality espoused by independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation who eschewed possessions. "They have thrown off the parsimonious Gandhian phase when it was considered poor taste to flash wealth," says Radha Chadha, co-author of The Cult of the Luxury Brand who has studied the affluent in Asian countries.

Sales of prestige cars such as Mercedes and Ferraris accelerated 80 percent last year, despite punishing 100-percent duties and potholed roads. "Last year was phenomenal," says BMW India president Andreas Schaaf, referring to sales. Aston Martin last month joined the list of luxury marques driving into India with plans to sell three models -- the V8 Vantage, priced at $348,341, the Rapide at $483,146 and the One-77 at a whopping $4.5 million.

The new ostentation underscores how the divide between India's wealthy and its poor is widening. India is home to the world's biggest number of poor people. Some 42 percent of Indians, or 455 million people, live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. India's statistics on health, infant mortality and malnutrition are worse than those for some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express, describes the well-off as "divorced and insulated" from poverty. "We send our children to private schools, get treatment only in private hospitals, have our own security in gated communities, never need to use public transport,"