Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: India is home to a rapidly growing number of new rich, fuelling a booming luxury goods and services industry.

The number of millionaires in India is expected to grow by 40 per cent in the next three years to more than 350,000 people.

Many of them are young and out not to just make money: they want fame.

South Asia correspondent Stephanie March reports.

STEPHANIE MARCH, REPORTER: They're young, they're rich and in India's major cities there are plenty of places for them to spend their cash.

HINDOL SENGUPTA, FORTUNE INDIA MAGAZINE: Literally in my lifetime, which is about three decades, something: I mean, look at the number of millionaires and multi-millionaires and billionaires we've got. It's growing, it's growing exponentially.

STEPHANIE MARCH: And many are moving away from the past and finding new ways to make money.

At 36, Aditi Balbir lives in a mansion in south Delhi. She's not short of cash and loves to spend it.

ADITI BALBIR, ENTREPRENEUR: Now it goes towards, you know, getting things for the home and my son - who is as crazy. He is an absolute shopaholic.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Seven-year-old Agyanth has more football jerseys than many boys could dream of.

ADITI BALBIR: And you're going to also take care of all these jerseys, or no?

AGYANTH BALBIR, SON: Yes.

ADITI BALBIR: I want you to put them away properly.

AGYANTH BALBIR: OK.

ADITI BALBIR: OK.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Aditi's clients are exactly like she is: young, rich and ambitious.

ADITI BALBIR: This particular class of working people love to travel. I think, you know, earlier, again, travel was a discretionary item but I don't think it is anymore.

STEPHANIE MARCH: She uses money from investors to refurbish old buildings into resorts on the outskirts of India's major cities. Since she started a year ago, Aditi's opened 11 properties across the country.

ADITI BALBIR: We are growing by about four, five resorts almost every month. You know, with the current funding that we have, we expect to reach about 30 to 35 resorts by the end of this year.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Aditi could have taken an easier path. She was born into a well-off family but the growing opportunities for her to make it on her own in India were too good to resist.

ADITI BALBIR: Even in my generation, actually, you see "start-up" being the buzzword, right? It's as big a buzzword as, say, being a doctor or an engineer was, you know, say, in the older generation.

STEPHANIE MARCH: She and those like her could be a driving force for India's future.

HINDOL SENGUPTA: They all propel democracy. Remember, entrepreneurs, especially, if they're successful, don't just have an economic voice; they also have a political voice.

STEPHANIE MARCH: They're also fuelling a rapidly growing luxury market.

DINAZ MADHUKAR, DLF EMPORIO MALL: There is a lot more new money because people are now self-employed. Even the women are employed and you find that the pay packages are so much better. There's a lot more disposable income.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Dinaz Madhukar is the vice-president of India's first luxury mall, Emporio. Home to the world's most exclusive brands, the mall opened in 2008 and business is booming.

DINAZ MADHUKAR: We are 100 per cent leased and we just don't have the space, though there is a request from brands to open additional spaces and we didn't have them.

STEPHANIE MARCH: In the past year, discretionary spending among India's rich rose from 30 per cent to 45 per cent of their total income - and jewellery and accessories were at the top of the list.

(Footage of salesman displaying diamond necklaces for customer)

SALESMAN: So this works out to about 40 lax.

STEPHANIE MARCH: That's about $80,000.

SALESMAN: These are the recently launched magnetic bangles.

CLIENT: OK.

SALESMAN: They're, they've become very popular.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Popular and worth about $4,000 each.

But for many of India's young and rich, wealth and showy items are not the end game. In Mumbai, 20-year-old Shann Singh has a lot of toys. For his 18th birthday he bought himself a brand new Mini Cooper.

SHAAN SINGH, DJ: Not a bad sports car.

STEPHANIE MARCH: He's also not shy about his fetish for sneakers.

SHAAN SINGH: When I do have the money, like, I buy a lot of shoes. And then Mum's like, "You have too many shoes, Shaan. You've got too many shoes." So that's why they're out. I have to clean out my shoe drawers. But I think it's shoes that I buy. Too many shoes.

STEPHANIE MARCH: He's paid for it all himself. Shaan is one of India's fastest-rising DJs.

(Footage of Shaan and his parents toasting with white wine)

SHAILENDRA SINGH, SHAAN'S FATHER: So what is the plan this evening? Where are you heading?

STEPHANIE MARCH: His parents are incredibly wealthy, but he's chosen to make it on his own.

SHAAN SINGH: A lot of the parents nowadays are opening up. A lot of the more modern parents are letting the children do what they want and let them be who they want to be. While there are still those old-school parents who are from the villages and stuff who just say, "You become an engineer" and "You become a doctor." But I think it's majorly different from when it was back then.

SHAILENDRA SINGH: I mean, we had nothing; he has everything. Long story short. (Laughs)

(To Shaan) Enjoy yourself.

SHAAN SINGH: This generation believes in creating milestones. We're a young nation of 60 years of independence. So this generation is finally realising that it's about creating milestones. It's not about creating riches that is going to give them laurels in their life.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Shaan Singh's career is taking off. He's played at huge festivals in India and abroad and last year released his own single. He's only 20 but he has grand plans to become India's biggest dance music export.

But the rise of the rich may not be all good news for India.

HINDOL SENGUPTA: I think India's on the edge of a water crisis, an air pollution crisis, a health crisis. Now, you cannot have entrepreneurship that will create millions of jobs if you have a workforce that does not have the healthy body and mind to fill those jobs with workers.

STEPHANIE MARCH: While many Indians are getting richer and making something of themselves, others remain desperately poor. Hindol Sengupta says the desire among the new rich to help the poor is growing.

HINDOL SENGUPTA: You're seeing more and more pressure for people to showcase: what are you doing with the money? Journalists like myself ask the new billionaires, "So you've made so much money" - or the new millionaires - "What are you doing with your money? Right? How are you making a real difference?"

STEPHANIE MARCH: Shaan Singh says he eventually wants to help people through charity but for now he hopes to inspire them through his music. While he and his young friends enjoy their new-found fortunes, they realise India's future is in their hands.

SHAAN SINGH: People are actually believing in the youth now, so I think I'm very optimistic in where India's going to go in the coming years - and where I'm going to go, where my colleagues are going to go.

LEIGH SALES: Stephanie March reporting.