Floor Space Index and High Rise Apartments in Mumbai

Many who live in Mumbai may wonder why it is that so many in the city live

in what many even in other parts of India describe would to be abysmal

conditions. The government should take proper action and increase the

standard of living for the cities inhabitants. That of course is why politicians

are elected and handed the reign of power and all the luxuries and

privileges that are the perks of their job are granted only to allow them to

focus on their primary responsibility.

One of the key concepts to grasp pertaining to real estate in Mumbai is

that of FSI (Floor Space Index), when it comes to a city as large as

Mumbai, this may be the most important factor influencing not just real

estate in Mumbai but largely how and why people in Mumbai live as they

do.

FSI is a very simple concept but one of crucial importance to the residents

of any large city anywhere on the planet, even more so to those who live in

Mumbai.

In the simplest expression FSI is the ratio of a buildings floor area to that of

the plot of land it stands on. Try to think of it as a single ground floor on a

plot of land has an FSI of 1; a building with a ground floor as well as a 1st

floor on the same plot has an FSI of 2. A 2 storied building on half of the

allotted plot would still have an FSI of 1 and a 4 storied building on the

same half plot would have an FSI 2. An FSI of 4 to explain further and

perhaps more elegantly would mean that the floor space on the given plot

is 4 times greater than the size of the plot.

This concept is one of the drivers of the price of property in Mumbai and one

of great concern to the city’s top planners and architects. The city of Mumbai

has an FSI of only 1.33 which in the simplest terms means that all the

buildings in Mumbai together contain only 33% more space than the area of

land in the city. Compare this to Manhattan which has an FSI of 10 or greater

meaning that the area occupied by buildings in Manhattan is 1000% or

greater than the land in the city. To give another perspective the area of the

city of Mumbai is approximately 600 km square and that of Manhattan is

approximately 60 km square, so the area covered by buildings in Mumbai is

approximately 800 square km and in Manhattan 600 square km.

Considering how much smaller Manhattan is in area when compared to

Mumbai one can clearly see how a higher FSI has allowed land at

Manhattan to be utilized far more efficiently than land at Mumbai.   

There is however no panacea to the problems faced by Mumbai, one

could argue that the FSI in the city should simply be raised allowing for a

larger number of high rise Luxury apartments in Mumbai. There are

however grave differences between Mumbai and Manhattan and although

a higher FSI works well at Manhattan raising it at Mumbai may lead to

wretched living conditions for a large number of the city’s residents.