March 1: Calcutta is home to the most number of super-rich Indians after Mumbai and Delhi, a report published by an international property consultancy has revealed.

There are about 280 ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in Calcutta, up by 10 per cent since 2015-16, as compared to 1,340 in Mumbai and 680 in Delhi.

Knight Frank - the consultant which came out with The Wealth Report 2017 that covers the entire world - defined a UHNWI as one having an asset of $30 million (around Rs 200 crore) or more.

According to the report, there are about 6,740 such individuals in India but the number would be 264,300 if only dollar millionaires are taken into account.

"Despite the perception that Bengal and the city of Calcutta have lost out to other emerging cities such Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune in wealth creation, the numbers throw up a surprise. More importantly, the number of UHNWIs in the city is expected to swell by 140 per cent over next decade, according to our projection," Samantak Das, the chief economist of Knight Frank India, told Metro.

He predicted that the rise in the UHNWI count would have a positive impact on the city's real estate and retail segment. "There will certainly be lot more consumption at the luxury level, which is good for high-end retail. Moreover, there will also be need for more real estate as they tend to park surplus funds in that asset class," he explained.

The 2017 report finds Indians allocate 23 per cent of the personal wealth to real estate (excluding primary residence and second homes), only second to personal business where 29 per cent of the wealth is invested.

The study, however, does not take into account whether some of the individual wealth is inherited. Calcutta is home to entrepreneurial and business communities such as Marwaris and Gujaratis, who had settled down here long before Independence.

Moreover, several traditional business houses have a token presence in Calcutta though most of their assets and business operations are outside Bengal, and even outside India. Several wealthy Calcuttans also invest heavily in real estate across India.

A real estate fair recently organised by Realty Corpus in Calcutta received good response for luxury properties outside the state. "We witnessed active interest in properties of Mumbai, Noida, Bangalore and Goa," Samir Prasad, director of Realty Corpus, said.