10 best cities in india to live,work and play
DESCRIPTION
Research Methodology Paper for Pune UniversityTRANSCRIPT
A RESEARCH PAPER ON
BEST CITIES IN INDIA TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY
Submitted by
PARAG UKEY (MB09-28)
in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree
of
M.B.A
Submitted to
Prof. SUDHIR AMBEKAR
DEPTT. OF M.B.A
M.A.E., ALANDI
UNIVERSITY OF PUNE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
ABSTRACT
2. INTRODUCTION 4
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7
4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTREPRETATION 11
5. FINDINGS AND OBSERVATION 28
6. CONCLUSION 40
7. BIBLOGRAPHY 42
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ABSTRACT
Changing work culture, transformed lifestyles and rise of the services industry make ‘Life after Work’ as important as
‘Life at work’.
What makes a city a destination of choice for today’s urban worker???
Most people living, working and playing in today’s fast-paced corporate environment are desperate for a sound
business infrastructure that includes good opportunities for jobs, quick and efficient ways to travel to work and good
credit for entrepreneurial opportunities. But when the sunsets and it’s time to unwind ,today’s worker also craves
decent watering holes, multiplexes to watch the latest Bond movie, and for the overly energetic, a club to dance the
night away. That’s not all though. Today’s urban worker expects a safe civic environment-especially for women-good
hospitals, schools and parks and the one thing that Indians constantly pray for-but seldom get-namely, power supply.
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INTRODUCTION
Rise of Suburbia
Gurgaon’s top ranking, of course, is indicative of a new trend —the rise of the suburb and tier II cities. Mumbai, in
fact, is the only mega-city to feature in the top five, and that too barely. The driver for the overall shift was the real
estate cost, which spiraled exponentially in the metros, necessitating the development of the suburbs where asset prices
were still under control. In fact, high real estate costs fuel inflationary trends in the other major company expense,
namely human resources, as a higher cost of living demands higher compensation packages.
Sure, Gurgaon’s infrastructure doesn’t quite live up to the city’s global aspirations as anyone caught in its traffic pile-
up will vouch for. And yet, the city’s employment growth rate is second only to Noida’s—another Delhi suburb—
while it boasts of the third highest per capita income after Chandigarh and Mumbai, at Rs 1,22,212.
What counts in favor of the secondary cities is the availability of good accommodation and office space, daily
conveniences and a support system for working professionals— for instance, availability of domestic help.
Compared to a metropolitan or a tier I city, costs for running an operation in a tier II city such as Ahmedabad or Jaipur
are 30-40 per cent lower—which allows a lot of leeway in margin.
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Metros Down, But Not Discounted
It’s all very well to tout the achievements of suburbia, but would a Rajarhat survive without a Kolkata, a Navi Mumbai
without Mumbai, Whitefield and Electronics City without Bangalore or Gurgaon and Noida without Delhi? In the
present shape and form, the answer is no— the suburbs can’t exist without the parent city. These cities can’t be
discounted simply due to the kind of wealth they are able to generate. It’s not just about the geography but also the
history and sociology that sustain a city’s importance as a brand.
Mumbai, for instance, is all about the stock markets and the world of finance while Delhi immediately conjures up the
image of being a centre of real estate and the country’s powerbrokers and bureaucrats.
Megacities need a separate governance structure—a Mumbai currently is part of Maharashtra and as such may not get
the kind of priority it deserves. Making it a Union Territory would probably help.
As the suburbs are growing faster, they will attain independence and become autonomous, thus minimizing the
importance of the parent city. Still, we don’t foresee these suburban centre’s and tier II cities developing a character of
their own.
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Life after Work
Of course, it is well documented that the entire idea of there actually being life beyond work originated when there was
a need to cater to the demands of the nerd force which fuelled India’s tech boom. Bangalore, India’s wannabe version
of Silicon Valley, became a pub crawler’s paradise. Ditto for the hordes working at Gurgaon’s BPOs, whose presence
prompted the opening of several bars for the young and restless, “It’s a no-brainer that the young, especially the
upwardly mobile, want to enjoy their money after work. That also led to creation of the weekend getaway concept as
many of these people worked a five-day week rather than a six-day, as was the norm about 10-15 years back”.
But it’s not just entertainment options that make a city a great place for life after work. Parameters such as livability
quotients—which include a support system for working professionals, a clean environment, a low crime rate, good
education and a high literacy rate—are increasingly asserting their weightage in city rankings. This has in turn
prompted talent to evaluate work-place options which may be far from one’s place of birth.
Ultimately, for a city to make it on to a list such as ours, it increasingly needs to have world class business facilities
and infrastructure. It also needs to cater to the after work desires of a population that is getting younger by the day. The
city that is able to do both best—and there are a few on our list—will be the city that will continue to grow and
prosper, attracting the best of companies and the brightest of talent.
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RESEARCH METHODOLGY
This is a two-pronged study incorporating the results from secondary as well as primary data. Primary data was
collected by way of an online survey. The secondary component was primarily used to create indices. This is done in
the following manner:
Overall, about 40 measures are collected to generate a precise quantification of conditions across each city. Cities are
then ranked across these different measures. The availability of data depends on whether the same set of data is
available for all cities as well as the frequency of updating datasets. Generally, most of this data is relevant for 2009.
In order to ensure comparability across cities irrespective of size or population of a city, the data is normalised with the
appropriate variable (in some cases it may be area, in others population). The normalisation variable differs across
different data. Rating for each of the categories mentioned above is derived from an equal weighting formula. A
ranking exercise is then conducted based on the ratings calculated above.
In addition, an online survey is conducted in top 30 cities. The parameters are captured in the survey to calculate the
people’s perceptions about their living conditions, earning and business opportunities in their respective cities.
List of parameters considered for indices
LIFE AT WORK
Employment growth:
No. of job ads with minimum
0-1 year experience (per capita)
Employment growth rate
Worker per enterprise
Small Business Growth:
Total scheduled commercial banks credit (utilised by different sectors) growth rate
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No. of SSIs (small scale industries) availing credit (growth)
Per Capita Income:
Annual per capita income of urban households
Financial Infrastructure:
Number of ATMs (per capita)
Proportion of organised enterprises in total enterprises
Business environment:
Incidence of counterfeiting and cheating
General attitude of people in the city
Traffic during work hours
Availability of career opportunities matching individuals skills set
Opportunities in building a business/ professional career
Highlighted sub-categories are from the online survey conducted by Indicus group
LIFE AFTER WORK
Entertainment:
Per capita availability of restaurants & hotels
Per capita availability of malls
Tourist places to visit
Adequacy of malls, movies halls and other places of entertainment
Adequacy of parks
Housing:
Population density per sq. km.
Percentage of owned households
Consumer Price Index for housing*
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Growth in Consumer Price Index for housing*
House rentals*
Education:
Percent total literate Population (Age 7+)
No. of AICTE-approved seats in M.B.A, Engineering, Medical etc. (per capita)
Number of UGC-approved universities (per capita)
Number of college courses (per capita)
Quality of schools Safety:
Total IPC crime (per capita)
Percentage of theft in total crime
Percentage of murder in total crime
Percentage of crime against women in total crime
Percentage of riots in total crime
General safety of women
General responsiveness of the police
Standard of Living:
Percentage of urban households with annual income greater than Rs 10 lakh
Percentage of urban households with annual income between Rs 3-10 lakh Environment*
RSPM levels in residential areas
NO2 levels in residential areas
Variation in temperature
Pollution levels
Health:
Percentage of children age 12-35 months who received full immunization
Number of hospitals offering cashless services
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Percentage of mothers who had at least 3 ante-natal care visits during the last pregnancy'
Percentage of mothers who got at least one TT injection when they were pregnant
Contraceptive prevalance rate'
No. of registered hospitals (per capita)
Adequacy of good quality hospitals
Public Facilities:
Percentage of households using piped drinking water
Percentage of households electrified
Percentage of households having access to toilet facility
Average duration of power cuts in a day
Average frequency of water supply in a day
General maintenance of the city (roads, cleanliness, etc.)
Delay in construction projects
Availability of parking spaces
Adequacy of public transport
Adequacy of hospitals
Till what time are groceries available
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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTREPRETATION
The Diversity of the Top 100 Cities of India
Cities are 24-hour market places where a large group of people reside and trade. The high concentration of people
brings with it a variety of tastes, preferences, wants, resources, products and services. People from within the city and
outside interact, thereby generating the necessary mass for trade to occur. And so markets and cities are two sides of
the same coin.
The history of great civilizations is essentially the history of great cities. There is a direct relationship between human
progress and dynamic and prosperous cities. India is well endowed with cities spread more or less evenly across the
country. Like in other countries, cities in India tend to be located in areas with adequate water and on trade routes.
And like in other countries, its cities also contain the bulk of the economic wealth.
However, unlike in other countries, modern India does not know much about its cities. Apart from decadal reports
from the Census of India, little information is available on cities. The situation is worse where information on
theextent of economic and market activity is concerned.
However, information from various sources can be put together, trends analyzed, matched with other sources, and
analyzed to gain some important insights into cities.
The unit for defining a rural area is the “village” while urban areas are classified as either a ‘Town’ or ‘City’. The
defining character of a village is its agriculture-based economy. The Census of India lists about 638 thousand villages
in the country, though some of these are uninhabited. The definition of a town varies, but the most commonly used in
India is that of the Census of India. It considers a town to be that location which has (i) a minimum population of
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5,000 (ii) at least 75 per cent of the male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits, and (iii) a density of
population of at least 400 per square kilometer (1,000 per square mile). Cities are simply larger towns, as per the
Census definition towns with a population of greater than 100,000 are cities. There were 5180 cities in 2001.
However, there are many large villages that could be considered to be towns but are not for many reasons. Take for
instance the 10,000-population benchmark. There were about 1300 towns with a population less than 10,000 in 2001.
And there were almost 4000 villages with a population greater than 10,000 in the same year.
Urban areas are governed in different ways. Municipalities, Municipal Coporations, Cantonment Boards, Notified
Town Area Committee, Nagar Panchayats are some urban local governing bodies (ULBs) but not the only ones. Many
times what we consider to be the same city is covered by different ULBs. Delhi for instance has the New Delhi
Municipal Corporation and Delhi Municipal Corporation. On the other hand the districts of Mumbai and Suburban
Mumbai have the same ULB overseeing their functioning - The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In the case of
Hyderabad, the ULB oversees the urban area in the whole of Hyderabad district and also some portion of urban areas
in Rangareddi.
In addition, information at the city level is rarely available at the ULB level. ULBs themselves tend to be poorly run
across most of India and are not known for their data and information provision abilities. As a consequence, it
becomes quite difficult to categorize, compare and analyze cities. After all, what seems to be a simple enough entity,
and intuitively quite apparent as a distinct unit, is not necessarily so administratively.
The Census of India has tried to resolve this by coming out with the concept of an ‘Urban Agglomeration’ or UA. The
UA is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths (OGs) or two or more
physically contiguous towns together. It has brought out data for the 35 largest UAs in India as of 2001 (up from 23 in
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1991). For the purpose of delineation of Urban Agglomerations (UAs) during Census of India 2001, following criteria
were taken as pre-requisites:
a) The core town or at least one of the constituent towns of an urban agglomeration should necessarily be a statutory town, and
b) The total population of all the constituents (i.e., towns and outgrowths) of an Urban Agglomeration should not be less than 20,000 as per the 1991 Census.
Table 1: Population Concentrations in India
Unit Population Interval Number
Village <1,000 persons 394,128
Village 1,000-4,999 persons 221,040
Village 5,000-9,999 persons 15,058
Village 10,000 or more persons 3,976
Town <5,000 persons 238
Town 5,000-10,000 persons 1,058
Town 10,000-50,000 persons 2,945
Town 50,000-1,00,000 persons 498
Cities 100,000 or more persons 422
Cities 1,000,000 or more persons 27
UAs 1,000,000 or more persons 35
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We consider this to be significant improvement over the past. However, even here there is a problem. The first has to
do with limiting the data to the largest 35 UAs. There are many more such UAs across the country and for both policy
and commercial purposes, no longer can one limit analysis to only the top 35 urban areas. There are many more UAs,
384 to be precise. However, data on these 384 UAs are not available.
The second has to do with other data sources. Apart from the Census, no other urban data is available at the UA level.
If the other aggregator-providers of information such as the Reserve Bank of India, Telecom Regulatory Authority, and
the various organs of the Central and State governments were to synchronize their efforts with the Census, the quality
of analysis of urban India would improve dramatically. For the time being however, we have to work with what is
available.
To avoid confusion between these definitional differences, and also due the fuzziness of city boundaries, many prefer
to use the definition “urban area in a district” as a good enough working definition when studying the larger cities. In
most districts where the larger cities are located there is only one major city and a few smaller cities. But the latter are
more or less small sub-urban branches of the single large city. For instance, in 9 of every 10 cities that we study, the
district is identified so much with the largest city, that the district has the same name as the city. We therefore use this
as the unit of analysis for the topmost 100 cities in India. However, in some cases we need to aggregate some districts
for varying reasons. These and other related issues are discussed next.
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Topmost Cities in India
Note that we do not use the term ‘largest’ but use ‘topmost’ instead. Some sub-urban locations have become important
locations on India’s urban landscape. Some of these are still not among the largest in terms of their overall market size
or population. But they are important centers in their own right. Gurgaon, Thane and Salt Lake are only some
examples.
Many think of large cities as those that have a larger population. Since we consider cities as markets, where those
living inside or outside interact, the total market size is a better measure of the importance of a city. But the term
‘topmost’ also incorporates other characteristics. If our focus is on where to locate our offices, then other issues
become more important, such as presence of government, and also good quality infrastructure. By these criteria all
state capitals should be included. If on the other hand, we need to better understand which are the most important
emerging urban locations, then we also need to include emerging population concentrations around large cities.
We identify the top 100 cities of India in the following manner. First, the top 100 urban areas of districts were sorted
on the basis of their market sizes. Next all the capitals of States and Union Territories were substituted at the cost of
those cities with the smallest market sizes. In most cases the states and UTs were already among the top 100 cities.
Last, the important urban areas in the vicinity of the large metros were identified, and these were also included at the
cost of the smallest cities as per the market size.
Indeed there are many different ways by which cities can be sorted and chosen. This is only one way of doing so. But
what this does ensure is that cities that are important from the viewpoint of public governance (capitals), private
governance (sub-urban location of corporate offices) and economic status (market size), are all included.
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Categorizing the Top Cities
We consider the top cities as those that are important from the point of view of market size and public or private
governance. But within this set of top 100 urban areas there exists vast diversity. The market size of Kavaratti in
Lakhshadweep would be the size of a small neighborhood in Delhi for instance. The population of Mumbai surpasses
that of many states of India. Categorization helps in better benchmarking cities against each other. However,
categorization can be done in many different ways, and it is not very clear what is the best way of doing so.
As mentioned, we take markets as being central to the concept of a city and therefore use market size as the key unit
for categorization. However, there are other considerations as well. These are discussed below under each of the 4
major classes of cities.
Alpha Cities – The Elite Club of 10
The alpha cities are the elite cities of India. They are the elite not only because of their market size but because of the
important role they play in all aspects of human endeavor. Among the most important cities of modern India, first,
there was Calcutta – the political, cultural, educational, and economic capital of British India. Then came Bombay.
Delhi slowly regained its lost glory after the British moved in, and Chennai steadily gained in stature. At the time of
Independence these four were the elite cities of India. Sometime during the seventies, Bangalore and Ahmedabad also
entered common acceptance as being among the driving forces of modern India. Eighties and nineties have seen the
emergence of Pune and Hyderabad into this select club. And the 2000s are pointing towards Surat and Coimbatore.
Both have strong economies, have better governance than most other Indian cities, are located between other major
centers, and are well connected. But most important, they have by their example shown how the government and
citizens can together turn adversity into an advantage and bring about revolutionary changes in short spans of time.
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Beta Cities – On the Threshold
These are the cities that can be. Indeed some among them will become elite cities eventually. Many of these cities are
state capitals such as Jaipur and Lucknow, benefiting from better infrastructure and public services. Some such as
Indore have been threatening to break into the big league for many years, but never quite managed it. Some others
such as Kanpur have somehow lost their way. But whatever be their current status, these are among the largest urban
markets and can at anytime break into the elite club the way Surat and Coimbatore have.
Another group of urban areas are already very large markets, some being even larger than the smaller alpha cities. But
we insist on retaining them in the beta club for a simple reason – they are not technically a single city, rather a
collection of smaller cities clustered around each other and highly dependent on a neighbouring elite city. Three such
sibling urban areas are:
Mumbai’s sibling urban centers in Thane district (containing cities such as Dombivli, Bhayandar, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar and Virar)
Kolkata’s sibling urban centers in North 24 Parganas (containing cities such as Baranagar, Barasat, Dum Dum, Kamarhati, Panihati and including Salt Lake City)
Chennai’s sibling urban centers in Thiruvallur district (containing cities such as Ambattur, Avadi and Tiruvottiyur)
Gamma Cities – Upcoming Cities
Goa, Vijaywada, and Thiruvananthapuram are some examples of these cities that, either in recent years, or sometime in
the past have come onto their own. These are important regional or state centers of economic activity. They are among
the top fifty urban centers in the country. As they progress they will create opportunities for citizens living in them and
in surrounding areas.
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Delta Cities – Budding Centers
This is a large group of 50 cities that are budding, or have the potential to turn into, into much larger centers. Many are
steadily gaining the necessary scales in terms of population and market size. Capitals of states and UTs, such as
Gandhinagar, Srinagar and Shillong, centers that are siblings of larger cities such as Gurgaon and Noida, industrial
centers such as Durg-Bhilai and Bokaro, historically important cities such as Udaipur and Mysore, large emerging
centers such as Jamnagar, religious cities such as Varanasi and Ajmer, are all included in this set.
Table 2: Top 100 Cities in India (In Alphabetical order within each group)
Top 10
Ahmadabad Bangalore Chennai Coimbatore Delhi
Hyderabad Kolkata Mumbai Pune Surat
Next 20
Asansol Bhopal Faridabad Indore Jaipur
Jamshedpur Kancheepuram Kanniyakumari Kanpur Kochi
Lucknow Ludhiana Madurai Nagpur Patna
Salem North 24
Parganas(Urban areas)
Thane (Urban Areas) Thiruvallur (Urban
Areas)
Vadodara
Next 20
Amritsar Aurangabad Chandigarh Dhanbad Ghaziabad
Goa Guwahati Haora Hugli Jabalpur
Jalandhar Kolhapur Nashik Rajkot Rangareddi
Thiruvananthapuram Tiruchirappalli Vellore Vijayawada Visakhapatanam
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Next 50
Agartala Agra Aizawl Ajmer South 24 Parganas(Urb.
Areas)
Allahabad Anantapur Bareilly Bhavnagar Bhubaneshwar
Bokaro Cuttack Daman Dehradun Durg-Bhilai
Gandhinagar Gangtok Guntur Gurgaon Gwalior
Imphal Itanagar Jamnagar Jodhpur Kannur
Kavaratti Kohima Kota Kozhikode Mangalore
Meerut Moradabad Mysore Noida Patiala
Pondicherry Port Blair Raipur Ranchi Raurkela
Rupnagar Shillong Shimla Silvassa Solapur
Srinagar Thanjavur Thrissur Udaipur Varanasi
Importance of 100 Top Cities in Total Urban India
How important are these largest 100 cities? Consider the table below. Broadly, the top 100 cities account for about 58
percent of the total urban population of 331 million as of 2006. They account for 54 percent of the 244 million urban
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literates. Income levels tend to be higher in the larger cities – they account for almost three fifths of the total household
income, savings, and expenditures.
Table 3: Share of Top 100 Cities in India’s Urban Economy, 2006
Cities Share of
Population
Share of
Literates
Share of
Household
Income
Share of
Household
Savings
Share of
Household
Expenditures
Share of
Commercial
Bank
Deposits
Share of
Commercial
Bank Credit
Top 10 20% 21% 25% 25% 25% 53% 66%
Top 30 36% 37% 42% 42% 43% 63% 74%
Top 50 45% 47% 53% 52% 53% 69% 79%
Top 70 52% 53% 59% 59% 60% 74% 82%
Top 100 58% 59% 65% 65% 65% 79% 86%
All
Urban
Locations
(in
million) 331 244
Rs.
16,488,672
Rs.
5,076,676
Rs.
11,411,996
Rs.
15,223,750
Rs.
10,389,797
Within these 100 cities, the top 50 account for 45 percent of the urban population, and half the incomes, savings,
expenditures, and assets. They also tend to account for a large share of the urban commercial bank deposits and credit
– about 70 to 80 percent. The top 30 cities account for more than half of all urban credits and deposits. This is not
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really surprising. Larger cities do tend to have greater concentration of economic activities. And even some residing
in surrounding areas tend to depend upon the city.
However, this should not be interpreted as larger cities being more dynamic and growing more rapidly than smaller
cities. Based on data from credit and deposit growth as well as increases in population, we find a more complex
pattern. The table below presents figures that are indicative in nature. The figures in each cell represent the median of
the city wise growth rates within each group. In larger cities, deposits are growing more rapidly. However credit
growth in very small cities is expanding at a higher rate as well. Expected market size growth is also not necessarily
weighed only among the largest cities.
Be that as it may, the largest 100 cities do tend to have a greater share of all measures of economic activity than their
population would warrant. This is also reflected in the distribution of households across socio-economic characteristics
and income distribution
Table 4: Growth in Top 100 Cities
Cities Median of Annual
% Growth in
Population (in
1990s)
Median of Annual
% Growth in
Credit
(in 2000s)
Median of Annual
% Growth in
Deposits
(in 2000s)
Median of Annual
% Growth in
Market Size
(Expected)
Top 10 3.0 17 13 8.2
Top 30 3.1 15 11 7.0
Top 50 3.1 15 10 6.1
Top 75 3.0 16 9 6.0
Top 100 2.9 16 10 6.3
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All
Urban Locations 2.6 18 9 5.1
Table 5: Share of Households by Socio-Economic Class (SEC) and Annual Household Income (AHI)
Socio-Economic Class
(Share of Total Households)
Annual Household Income
(Share of Total Households)
All
Households
Cities Sec
A
Sec
B
Sec
C
Sec D Sec E >300k 150k-
300k
75k-
150k
<75k
Top 10 28% 27% 23% 18% 18% 25% 23% 22% 11% 22%
Top 30 45% 42% 39% 34% 35% 44% 40% 36% 23% 38%
Top 50 54% 52% 49% 43% 46% 54% 50% 46% 32% 48%
Top 75 60% 57% 55% 49% 52% 61% 57% 51% 35% 54%
Top 100 66% 63% 61% 55% 58% 67% 62% 57% 43% 59%
All Urban
Locations
(in ‘000s) 5,862
11,54
2
15,99
7
16,76
0 144,85 14,722 25,251 16,873 7,851 64,699
The top 50 cities have about 54% of the SEC A households and 54% of all the urban households earning greater than
Rs. 300,000 annually. The next fifty add merely another 12 odd percent. More than the SEC characteristics it is
income that shows greater variations. We find that the low-income groups are mostly in smaller cities. If on the other
hand we were to add income breakups greater than Rs. 6,00,000 or Rs. 12,00,000 chances are the top 100 cities would
have a significantly higher share.
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The Character of the Top Cities
Market size and demography are only two aspects of a city. The presence of certain minimum infrastructure may
define a city, but what is more important is the quality of that infrastructure and services that go on top of it. Potholed
roads, water supply mechanisms that work only once every few hours or even days, electricity that is characterized
more by its absence than availability, a public transport system that is so poor that few use it in most cities, taxi and
auto-wallahs whose prices change depending upon the whims of the drivers, parks that are dumping grounds for trash
and resting place for cattle, drains characterized by stagnant water through the year and overflows in monsoons. The
list is long. But it is not that all cities are alike. And even in those cities where these problems exist people have found
a way around them.
Storage of water in overhead tanks, booster pumps, tube wells, inverters and generators, private transport, septic tanks,
etc. are only some of the private solutions to public inefficiencies. However, these services are costly. Depending
upon the economic abilities of the household, they may or may not be able to benefit from these private solutions.
Table 6: Availability of Public facilities
Cities Median of % Households
Electrified
Median of Annual %
Households Having Safe
Drinking Water
Top 10 95% 89%
Top 30 91% 78%
Top 50 91% 78%
Top 75 90% 75%
Top 100 90% 77%
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But living in a city is not only about infrastructure; it is also about pollution levels, temperature and temperature
variations, rain, heath care and education facilities, and so on. A range of factors affects lifestyles of those living in a
city. But secondary data sometimes do not reflect the true conditions of a city. For this purpose a survey of about
10,000 Internet users across 50 cities was conducted, the results for the Top 10 are reported below. Perceptions of the
better off reveal a lot about the conditions of cities. This is so, as the poorest sections face poor conditions across the
country, and therefore there is little variation in that segment. Though this was not a representative survey it does
provide a good glimpse of life in various cities.
Table 7: Internet users Perceptions in Top 10 Cities
Cities Frequency of
water supply
% Reporting
having Inverter/
Generator
Frequency of
electricity
break-downs
per day
% of Time
having to
Haggle with
Taxi/Auto/Rick.
-wallah
Health Facilities
compared to other cities
Ahmadabad Twice a day < 25% No Power cut < 25% Much better
Bangalore Once in 2 day < 25% <1 hour < 25% Much better
Chennai Once a day < 25% <1 hour < 25% Much better
Coimbatore Once in 2 day < 25% <1 hour < 25% Much better
Delhi Twice a day 50 to 75% 1 to 2 hours 75 to 100% Much better
Hyderabad Once in 2 day < 25% <1 hour < 25% Much better
Kolkata Twice a day < 25% <1 hour < 25% Somewhat worse
Mumbai Once a day < 25% No Power cut < 25% Much better
Pune Twice a day < 25% 2 to 4 hours < 25% Much better
Surat Once a day < 25% No Power cut < 25% Somewhat better
Source: Online Survey conducted by Indicus
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India is changing rapidly in many different ways. And the cities are changing even more rapidly. Typically, we find
that most new changes in all spheres come about first in the metros, then spread onto other larger cities, and then
eventually spread across whole of the urban landscape. Consider two new ‘technologies’ – the mall and the Internet.
Using data from two different sources we find that almost all malls are concentrated in the topmost cities, and so are
the Internet users.
Many new technologies are associated with a westernized lifestyle and also English. We do find that the topmost cities
tend to be more westernized. However, there is a lot of variation. For instance, Surat and Coimbatore are among the
largest markets, but have low westernization levels. Similarly the cosmopolitan character tends to be greater in larger
cities but is not necessarily high in all large cities. Kolkata is a large city but not as highly cosmopolitan as Nagpur.
On the other hand a smaller city such as Guwahati is quite cosmopolitan being the gateway into the north-east. Apart
from Assamese, it boasts of a large number of Bengalis, Hindi speaking community, and many from different states of
the North-east.
Earning, Investing, and Residing in Cities
It is not that the top cities in terms of market size are necessarily the easiest to live in. They tend to have much larger
economies and as a result offer greater options and choices for both income and consumption for their residents. In
order to comprehensively assess the cities we rate the top 100 cities in India at three levels. For this purpose three
indices were developed: (1) City Earning Index (2) City Investing Index, and (3) City Residing Index.
City Earning Index: A city that has a good earning environment is one where employment levels are high, and
where employment growth is high, where per capita incomes are high, and one where job opportunities are high as
reflected through internet job sites.
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City Investing Index: A city is a good place to invest in where others are also investing. This is reflected in high
credit growth, and the extent to which credit is higher than deposits, and where per capita credit to small business is
also high. A city where a large number of people are migrating in also reflects growing opportunities for all.
City Residing Index: A city is a good place to reside in where (i) public health, (ii) basic and higher education, (iii)
utilities and transport, (iv) environment, (v) safety, and (vi) entertainment conditions are good. Health is reflected in
immunization and good quality hospitals, basic education through literacy rates, professional education through MBA
and engineering seats per capita, and safety is reflected in murders, crime against women, and robbery and thefts. A
good environment is where pollution (as reflected in residential SPM and N02 levels) is low, where temperatures are
not too high, where temperature variations are also low. Adequate entertainment is also an important criterion for
residing in a city. Good quality restaurants, malls, and locations to visit in a city reflect entertainment options.
Public facilities perhaps make up a large part of the overall residing friendliness of a city. These include roads, safe
drinking water, households electrified, and safe drinking water, and adequacy of parks. But this forms only one set.
Inverses of power cut frequency, presence of inverter/ generator, housing inflation levels, and growth in housing
inflation also reflect overall living conditions in a city.
Table 8: Ranking among Top 10 Alpha Cities
Top 10 Cities Earning Index Investing Index Residing Index
Delhi 4 7 8
Mumbai 7 5 2
Kolkata 10 10 4
Chennai 9 3 3
Bangalore 2 6 1
Hyderabad 8 8 6
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Ahmedabad 6 9 9
Surat 1 2 10
Pune 3 4 7
Coimbatore 5 1 5
We find that though there is a significant correlation between the Earning and Investing indices, the Residing Index has
no relationship with the other two. Locations that are good places to earn and invest in tend to have greater levels of
in-migration. These cities also tend to have higher income levels. Both result in a higher demand on utilities. In some
cities the physical and social infrastructure is better able to keep up with this increase, than in others. In those areas
where it does, the Residing Index is higher. But not all cities are able to respond. This in turn makes them poor
locations to live in.
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FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
BEST CITIES OF INDIA
Best cities to (Rank wise)
WORK PLAY LIVE
1. Gurgaon
2. Noida
3. Chandigarh
4. Surat
5. Bangalore
6. Chennai
7. Hyderabad
8. Mumbai
1. Chandigarh
2. Chennai
3. Ahmedabad
4. Kochi
5. Kolkata
6. Vadodara
7. Mumbai
8. Nagpur
1. Gurgaon 11. Vadodara 21. Jaipur
2. Chandigarh 12. Coimbatore 22. Indore
3. Chennai 13. Delhi 23. Thane
4. Hyderabad 14. Nashik 24. Lucknow
5. Mumbai 15. Faridabad 25. Ludhiana
6. Noida 16. Kolkata 26. Guwahati
7. Bangalore 17. Nagpur 27. Howrah
8. Pune 18. Visakhapatnam 28. Ghaziabad
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9. Pune
10. Delhi
9. Pune
10. Hyderabad
9. Surat 19. Kochi 29. Patna
10. Ahmedabad 20. Jamshedpur 30. Kanpur
Here’s a peek at what separates the top five cities from the rest of the pack.
1st RANK:
Gurgaon
All grown up
As little as two decades ago, Gurgaon took its first baby steps from a sleepy little hamlet in Haryana to becoming a
bustling township, snapping up Delhi’s corporate gentry as its tenants. Today, the new kid on the block is attracting
hordes of multinationals, bringing in their wake swish restaurants and hotels.
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Hard to believe, but take a drive down the recently constructed fivelane,
world-class expressway to Gurgaon 29 km away—make sure you stay
well behind manic tempos, SUVs and motorcycles weaving across lanes
like deranged Formula 1 drivers—and you will soon pass a clutch of
glittering buildings that are home to some of the biggest corporations in
the world. What’s Gurgaon got that Delhi doesn’t? “We would say it’s got
the feel of an international city—barring some potholes of weak
infrastructure.”
This world class feel first came about in the ’90s when the Haryana government initiated a favourable tax policy to
lure companies. Private firms began constructing top notch buildings. Proximity to Delhi’s airport was a bonus. Soon,
Gurgaon became the world’s outsourcing hub—Pioneer GE Capital International Services (GECIS) set up shop in
1997 and a tsunami of other BPO companies followed.
There’s more to Gurgaon than just its tax policies. In the wake of this corporate migration, the city has attracted
thousands of young professionals who find that living, working and playing in Gurgaon is cheaper, more convenient
and fun than Delhi.
Gurgaon is also India’s ‘mall’ capital, selling Versace and Gucci in places where buffaloes once roamed. But malls
bring traffic—lots of it— and Gurgaon’s roads are in bad shape and public transportation, a mess. That hasn’t stopped
people and industry from flocking here.
Life at work (Rank 1)
Per capita income: Rs 1,22,212 p.a. (3rd highest)
Employment Growth Rate: 11%
Credit growth rate: 25% (2nd highest)
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59%of residents said Gurgaon provided
them with much better jobs that matched
their skills compared to other cities
39%of residents polled said that public
transportation was much worse than
other cities
After work (Rank 11)
59% have income between Rs 3 and 10 lakh (highest)
43 malls (3rd highest)
100% of households have electricity (highest)
2nd RANK:
Chandigarh
Old money, new blood
What on earth is going on in Chandigarh? It has the highest per capita income in India of Rs 1,41,863 and the highest
percentage of people in any city (22 per cent) earning above 10 lakh a year. Before you rush off to pack your bags to
move there in the hope of striking gold, it’s worth noting that much of this wealth comes from rich farmers and
property owners extracting fat rental incomes.
Employment growth, for instance, was a paltry 2 per cent. This is not to
say that wealth generation is dead. “Chandigarh always had an
entrepreneurial spirit but a large part of it had shifted out over the years.
Now however, a large number of educated middle class people are willing
to jump in and start their own business”.
“Today, unlike in the early 1990s, a young guy has the opportunity to not only work but also make an aspirational
living as the city’s brand equity is increasing”.
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45% of residents said traffic was much
better than other cities
52% said that power cuts were less than
1 hour a day
Famous for being a Le Corbuisierdesigned city but little else, today Chandigarh is being noticed for its low crime rate,
safety for women, regular power supply and verdant avenues and thoroughfares.
Much of the credit for making the Union Territory a hub for boutique IT and ITES companies lies with its bureaucratic
administrators. “Not being owned by any one political party—it’s in neither Punjab nor Haryana—has ensured that
initiatives are implemented fast”.
Something other cities should take note of.
Life at work (Rank 3)
Per capita income: Rs 1,41,863 p.a. (highest) 22% had an annual income greater than Rs 10 lakh (ranked first)
Employment growth rate: 2%
After work (Rank 1)
Crimes against women: 224 reported
Number of murders: 19 reported
3rd RANK:
Chennai
Best of both worlds
If Mumbai can be likened to a vacuous diva, and Delhi an aggressive businessman, Chennai is probably an industrious
IIT aspirant with thick-rimmed glasses and a passion for quizzes. So, it’s not surprising that this low-key, high-
performing city attracted Rs 26,000 crore in investments in the last three years. Big names such as Renault, Nissan,
BMW, Diamler, Ford, Hyundai, and Nokia have made Chennai their home. “Chennai’s biggest strength is its mature
ecosystem for manufacturing which also happens to be very cost competitive”.
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However, Chennai is not just all work and no play. Its youth can often be found drinking beer on Elliot’s beach and
rocking out to cult classics from Jethro Tull or Uriah Heep. While Chennai ranks 6th on our Life at Work Index, it
comes in 3rd in our Life After Work category.
Chennai is also #1 on our education list.
Life at work (Rank 6)
Per capita income: Rs 87,446 p.a. (8th highest)
Employment growth rate: 6% (5th highest)
Credit growth rate: 16%
Number of ATMs: 469 (4th highest)
After work (Rank 2)
Ranked first in education on our list literacy rate: 92%
42% have income between Rs 3 and 10 lakh (4th highest)
4th RANK:
Hyderabad
Surviving Satyam
The year 2009 hasn’t been a good one for Hyderabad. One of its favourite sons— B. Ramalinga Raju—brought much
ill-repute on himself and corporate India as a whole thanks to the massive scam at Satyam Computer Services.
Yet, Hyderabad remains one of the nerve centers for much of the country’s IT activities, boasting stateof-the-art
facilities unrivalled by most cities in India and attracting droves of pedigreed Indian software firms and reputed
multinationals such as Google and Amazon.
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Microsoft has set up its biggest R&D facility outside the US there. It has a world class international airport that is the
envy of other Indian cities and an outstanding business school (Indian School of Business).
“This is a city where current and future infrastructure projects are keeping pace with the growth of the city.” It has the
top notch colleges and universities like in Chennai and Bangalore, which allows it to feed many of the companies with
skilled and qualified workers.
So what’s missing? The city lacks a fast and efficient public transport system. Massive power cuts have become a
nightmarish reality. Partygoers will be disappointed by the dearth of quality nightspots, a stark contrast to its fellow
silicon city Bangalore.
Still, as far as ease of doing business is concerned, Hyderabad’s a hard act to beat.
Life at work (Rank 7)
Per capita income: Rs 69,493 p.a. (lags behind Thane and Vadodara)
Job ads with minimum 0-1 year experience: 3,279 (lags behind Faridabad, Noida and Gurgaon)
Employment growth rate: 10% (#3)
After work (Rank 10)
Registered hospitals: 185 (ranked 7th)
Literacy rate: 83%
5th RANK:
MumbaiMaximum headaches
Mumbai should be #1 on this list. The city is India’s financial mecca, home to one of the world’s largest film
industries, the country’s best restaurants, bars, clubs. You name it and Mumbai’s got it. Except for that #1 slot. So
what’s gone wrong? Possibly the most read words in the city today are: ‘Kindly bear with us for a better tomorrow.’
Mumbai has been a work-in-progress project for several years now and disgruntled citizens are now asking when that
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promised ‘tomorrow’ is likely to arrive.
Mumbai, better known as Asia’s slum capital, has far exceeded its carrying capacity. Dense populations reside in tiny
apartments and make do with facilities that are now far behind other Indian cities. “We need open spaces—there is not
a single green zone in the centre of the city. If Mumbai is India’s Manhattan, then where is Central Park?” asks Shyam
Chainani, honorary secretary of Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG).
Civic authorities in Mumbai have grand plans of becoming the next Shanghai. They plan on building 53 skywalks,
three metro lines, monorails and several flyovers.
That’s laughable considering that today Mumbai’s roads are choked with traffic, power cuts are frequent and lengthy,
buildings ramshackle, public services minimal and the poor left to fend for themselves amidst unimaginable filth and
degradation. For the swish set who live in leafy south Mumbai or Bandra, life is peachy. For much of the rest it can
often be a living nightmare. Despite promises from the governing authorities, public trust is eroding fast.
Life at work (Rank 8)
Per capita income: Rs 1,25,749 p.a. (2nd highest)
Job ads with minimum 0-1 year experience: 19,281 (2nd highest)
Employment growth: Less than 1%
After work (Rank 7)
Number of registered hospitals: 559 (highest)
Number of malls: 81
Access to toilet facilities: 49% (2nd lowest along with Jaipur, after Patna)
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6th RANK:
NOIDA
Tech City
“Gurgaon is good for well-off manpower, but Noida offers a larger average middle class to hire from”. Bonuses:
better public transport, ample lower-rent housing and schools. Along with Gupta, are flocks of IT companies who have
set up their operations in this satellite town of Delhi.
Today, 70 per cent of Adobe’s 1,000-plus-manpower lives within 10 minutes driving distance of its campus—
convenient, since Adobe ‘s operations are 24x7. Sure, Noida isn’t as posh as Gurgaon but it outstrips its
neighbourhood rival in the generation of jobs, registering 14 per cent employment growth versus 11 per cent in
Gurgaon, thanks to a fountain of small scale units mushrooming every year.
Noida’s power situation is pathetic. Nearly 50 per cent of residents polled mentioned power cuts lasting 2-4 hours.
Noida also has the reputation of being the crime capital of India with a whole slew of high profile murders,
kidnappings and car jacking. If Noida gets these essentials right, it may just best Gurgaon in next year’s list.
Life at work (Rank 2)
Per Capita Income: Rs 85, 519 p.a (ranked 9th)
Employment growth rate of 14%
After work (Rank 22)
95% owned houses, fourth highest on our list
Only 77% had electricity, third lowest on the list
7th RANK:
BANGALORE
Wanted: Law & Order
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It is not unreasonable to expect Bangalore to outrank both Gurgaon and Noida for starters, never mind Mumbai. After
all, Bangalore is home to Kingfisher beer, has a lovely climate and is home to a large assortment of pubs and
restaurants that easily outdo both Chennai and Hyderabad. It has some outstanding educational institutions and is
India’s most hyped Silicon City. Still, over the last year, the good times have failed to roll. One factor that has
tarnished the city despite its many attractions is the spate of ugly, violent attacks on women who were emerging from
the city’s nightspots—the very people that continue to fuel Bangalore’s high-octane growth and its thriving night life.
These attacks show that the city is unable to protect its population from thugs.
Another problem: The current regulations require bars and pubs to be shut at 11 p.m. This has two effects. It
antagonises Bangalore’s youth who are in the majority and it puts the brakes on business. “We need to look at the
needs of youngsters. There is a case for extending the present deadline….It’s somebody’s livelihood that we have
deprived. If the concern is one of law and order, then we must step up policing, not curtail nightlife,’’ says Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon.
Life at work (Rank 5)
Per Capita Income: Rs 88,991 p.a. (6th)
After Work (Rank 13)
#1 in seats available for MBA medical, engineering degrees
Total IPC crimes reported: 27,049 (3rd highest)
8th RANK:
PUNE
Long way rank to go
Alate starter, Pune has worked assiduously to become another top Indian tech city. Companies like Wipro, IBM, Dell,
Whirlpool and Coca-Cola enjoy world-class infrastructure and ambience on their campuses.
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Their only plight is their surroundings. Chaotic, with badly-managed traffic, poor road connectivity and frequent power
cuts, Pune has some work cut out for itself. Pune—which began as a cantonment town—took to centrestage when it
became the country’s educational hub. From English Literature to Engineering, the city became a haven for students.
The 1,700 companies that set up base in the city in the mid-2000s swelled the city’s population considerably. The city
is now home to 54 lakh people, up by 10 lakhs since 2006. That has spelt big trouble for little Pune.
Mahesh Zagade, Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), says that the PMC is working hard to improve
infrastructure. “Several projects are being executed ....we are building tunnels, bypasses, flyovers— we are not
ignorant to the city’s needs.” Let’s hope they do a better job than their brethren in Mumbai.
Life at Work (Rank 8)
Life at Work (Rank 9)
9th RANK:
SURAT
Model Town
Surat? On this list? Absolutely. That’s not all. Surat is ahead of both Delhi and Kolkata, both of which didn’t make it
to the top ten. What makes Surat so special?
For starters, there’s not a single patch in the 324 sq. km medieval city of over 40 lakh people—better known as the
diamond polishing capital of India—which doesn’t have drainage, potable water, street lights and excellent roads.
The water system here is computerised and so will the drainage system in coming days. Surat’s water treatment plant
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is one of the best in the country.
Synthetic textile manufacturing and diamond processing are Surat’s driving forces with a combined turnover of around
Rs 6,000 crore, directly employing 12 lakh people and supporting 75 per cent of the city’s 40 lakh citizens. Surat’s
synthetic textiles beat even China’s in variety and quality.
Surat’s sanitation model is awe-inspiring. Throwing a cigarette butt on a road will get you a Rs 100 fine. Surat’s
sanitation workers dressed in black and blue instill more fear amongst the locals than policemen. Surat also boasts of
six swimming pools of global standards and an air-conditioned indoor stadium second only to Delhi’s Talkatora.
Mumbai, are you listening?
Life at work(Rank 4)
Per Capita Income: Rs 80,355 p.a. (outstrips Delhi, Kolkata & Hyderabad)
Employment Growth: 6%
After work (Rank15)
Literacy Rate: 86%
10th RANK:
Ahmedabad
Gujarat’s pride
Ahmedabad is not quite the model city that its other Gujarati counterpart, Surat, is—it still has its fair share of slums
and chawls. However, it is one of India’s most affluent cities: 45 per cent of households had an annual income of Rs 3-
10 lakh, the 2nd highest on our list.
One of Ahmedabad’s big draws: housing that is cheaper than most other cities on this list, at Rs 1,800 per sq. ft.
Coveted areas to live are the rapidly developing posh locales like Vastrapur, which is right next to the city’s
consistently top ranked IIM, and on SG Road.39
Surprisingly, Ahmedabad ranks 4th in our Life After Work category— this despite the ban on alcohol in the city.
Either the city’s citizens don’t really crave a tipple, or the ones that do, according to residents, are able to source it
easily from the city’s bootleggers. Malls are big in Ahmedabad and dot even the poorest areas , thus adding to the
lifestyle quotient.
Ahmedabad’s biggest strength, however, is its infrastructure development—which has been efficient and on-track. It
has an assured water supply, thanks to the Narmada. It’s power supply is amongst the best in the country—73 per cent
of residents said they experienced no power cuts, the highest on our survey.
Life at work (Rank 12)
Per Capita Income: Rs 80,374 p.a. (ranked 11th)
Employment Growth: -2%
After work (Rank 3)
Percentage of households with income Rs 3-10 lakh: 45% (2nd highest )
Crimes Reported Against Women: 3rd highest at 1,526
Conclusion
There are very high levels of diversity in India in almost all spheres of our lives. And the same is true for our cities.
So much so that it is difficult to identify commonalities and patterns such that we can easily categorize and fit cities in.
For the researcher interested in neatly categorizing different cities in different groups, this poses a problem, as the only
categorization that will work is related to size. For the manager interested in a common approach for there marketing
efforts across cities, this poses an even larger problem. It will be difficult to imagine a common strategy for Mumbai
and Surat – both among the 10 largest markets in India and only a few hundred kilometers away. This diversity exists
not only between cities, but also within cities.
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Whichever way we see it, India is a heterogeneous country with cities that are also heterogeneous. An appreciation of
this heterogeneity needs to be built-in as an integral part of our understanding of cities.
Another aspect of Indian cities needs to be appreciated. No one single city dominates any large sphere – true Mumbai
dominates the financial sector, Delhi the political ‘sector’, but there is little else. Almost as many movies are made out
of Chennai as in Mumbai, the automobile sector is spread around Pune, Delhi, Chennai and many other cities. And
though many of the large IT companies are headquartered in Bangalore, cities such as Pune, Hyderabad are rapidly
catching up, not to mention the high levels of IT activity in Mumbai and Delhi regions. Whether it is an economic
activity, or any other aspect of life, India is fortunate to have a large number of diverse and dynamic cities.
Delhi and Mumbai do not dominate India as much as, say, Mexico City dominates Mexico, or Sao Paolo dominates
Brazil. The top 100 largest cities only account for roughly 50 to 60 percent of the overall market. So as long as we are
thinking of the Indian middle class, or those at the bottom of the pyramid, there is a large chunk spread much more
finely in the rest of the 5000 odd cities in India. These masses may not necessarily be from the top educational
institutes of India, most may not be English speaking – but many of the highly educated and high income earners are
not necessarily only in the top 100 cities.
But the glass is half full. These top 100 cities do contain the largest chunk of the Indian urban population and market.
For those interested in covering the bulk of India’s urban population and market, concentrating on these 100 cities can
yield rapid results provided enough flexibility exists in their strategies to account for the heterogeneity.
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BIBLOGRAPHY
Data Sources:
Secondary Sources: Census of India, Census Town Directory 2001
Central Statistical Organization (CSO)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI)
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National Crime Research Bureau, Crime in India etc. and many more
Survey Datasets:
National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), CSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
Reproductive and Child Heath Survey, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Indicus online survey.
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