New Delhi: Thousands of India’s high networth individuals will leave the country this year for cities like Dubai and Singapore, thanks to tax laws and complex outbound remittance rules, a report has found.High networth individuals are people who have upwards of $ 1 million.India is likely to see at least 6,500 high networth individuals leave the country in 2023, the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report of 2023 says. The findings were reported by Business Standard.Last year, this number was higher, at 7,500.The report highlights that India’s tax laws are “prohibitive” and that this fact, coupled with the ease with which the complicated rules relating to outbound remittances can be abused or misinterpreted, has triggered the investment migration trend.This news comes amidst significant buzz over the Union finance ministry’s announcement of a 20% TCS (tax collected at source) on international credit card usage from July 1 this year under the liberalised remittance scheme.Among countries, China is going to be losing most number of high networth individuals in 2023, at 13,500. After that is India, the United Kingdom (3,200) and Russia (3,000).An expert who spoke to Business Standard noted that countries who received high networth individuals almost all have programmes that encourage foreign direct investment which lead to citizenship.Dubai, for instance, has a ‘golden visa’ programme, in addition to clear tax laws and distinct ease of doing business.Approximately 357,000 high networth Indians are still in the country, Rohit Bhardwaj, the director of the organisation which wrote the report told Business Standard.
