Johannesburg: South-African Indians, together with other coloured citizens, lead the rise in the number of millionaires in the country, despite being a minority.
They were among the 9 percent increase in the number of South Africans who have assets totalling more than USD 1 million, notwithstanding that the local currency rand showed huge depreciation against the greenbacks in the past year.
The New World South African Wealth Report for 2015 show that the coastal city of Durban, where about half of the 1.4 million South Africans of Indian origin live, had shown the fastest growth in the past year.
The elitist Durban suburbs of La Lucia and Umhlanga, restricted to whites-only in the apartheid era, has seen a huge influx of Indians, who previously could only live in overcrowded areas legally designated by apartheid laws for different race groups.
The report said these two areas had shown the greatest growth in the country.
Most of the millionaires had attained their status through the financial services, telecoms and healthcare sector.
Analysts said the 172 percent growth in Indian and coloured millionaires was largely due to their business acumen in taking advantage of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programmes put in place by the South African government.
BEE gives advantages to previously disempowered communities, which includes Indians, Africans and coloureds.
Previously advantaged white South Africans saw a decrease of 13 percent in millionaires.
The report included a projection that there would be further growth in the Indian, coloured and African communities over the next three years, despite economic growth in South Africa being constrained by the current electricity crisis, increasing trade union involvement and a rising level of government regulation.
