According to the annual World Wealth Report released by investment banking major Merrill Lynch and consultancy major Capgemini, India saw its millionaire population surging in 2007 by 22.6 per cent -- which is higher than any other country in the world.

In the previous year's report, India had the second fastest growth rate of 20.5 per cent after Singapore's 21.2 per cent.

The number of High-Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in India grew to about 1,23,000 at the end of 2007, up from 100,015 a year ago, the report said.

India is followed by China in terms of growth in the millionaire population at 20.3 per cent, as their numbers grew from 345,000 to 415,000.

The report said that the worldwide population of people with at least one million dollar to invest, after excluding the value of their homes or consumable assets, rose to 10.1 million.

"Driven by market capitalisation growth in emerging economies, the wealth of the world's high-net-worth individuals increased 9.4 per cent to 40.7 trillion dollar," the 12th annual World Wealth Report said.

"The number of HNWIs in the world increased 6 per cent in 2007 to 10.1 million, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (Ultra-HNWIs) increased by 8.8 per cent," it noted.

Merrill Lynch and Capgemini said that for the first time in the history of the report, the average assets held by millionaires has exceed four million dollars.

The report noted that India's leading position was "driven by market capitalisation growth of 118 per cent and real GDP growth of 7.9 per cent."

"Although India's real GDP growth decelerated from 9.4 per cent in 2006, current levels are considered more stable and sustainable. India's two largest exchanges the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange ranked among the world's top 12 exchanges by the end of 2007, boosted by initial public offering markets and heightened international interest," it further said.

The report noted that, although, market capitalisation and real GDP growth rates were higher in China than India, the HNWI population of India grew faster in 2007.

"As market capitalisation and real GDP in China were spread over a larger population, there were smaller per capita gains in China. In 2006, India had a larger market capitalisation growth than gross national income, significantly impacting the country's HNWI population growth.

"In addition, China is currently experiencing explosive growth in its ‘mass affluent’ population, which has yet to break the HNWI threshold of one million dollar," it said.

Proving the dominance of BRIC countries, Brazil recorded the third-highest HNWI growth rate in 2007 at 19.1 per cent, while Russia also figured among the world's 10 fastest-growing HNWI populations despite a growth deceleration from 15.5 per cent in 2006 to 14.4 per cent in 2007.