Are Delhi, Mumbai least expensive cities of the world?
India's political capital Delhi and financial hub
Mumbai have been ranked among the least expensive cities around the world by a
survey, even as cost for food and housing in the country continues to rise.
According
to a research by Swiss Banking major UBS, Delhi and Mumbai were at the bottom
of the price range in the list of most expensive cities that surveyed 73 places
worldwide.
Finance
Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently said the government is likely to resort to
imports to maintain demand supply gap as production of foodgrains and agri-
commodities are set to fall due to deficient monsoon.
Interestingly,
many cities spread across less developed economies were ranked ahead of the two
major Indian cities in the list of most expensive places. The survey
highlighted that many of the world's regions witnessed a switch in their
rankings, in the wake of the financial crisis and fluctuating currency
scenario.
"Currency
devaluation pushed down prices in many emerging market cities. Prices slipped
the most in Mexico City, Moscow and Seoul," the UBS report said. Besides,
London the second most expensive city in 2006, plummeted 20 places following
the steep devaluation of the pound.
While
Tokyo ranks as one of the world's five costliest cities, Kuala Lumpur, Manila,
Delhi and Mumbai form the lowest rung.In terms of wages, workers in Tokyo earn
the highest wages in Asia while employees in Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva and New
York have the highest gross wages.
By
contrast, the average employee in Delhi, Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai earns less
than one-fifteenth of what their counterparts in Switzerland earn on an hourly
basis after taxes.
Interestingly,
an average wage-earner in Zurich and New York can buy a i-pod nano from an
Apple store after nine hours of work. At the other end of the spectrum, workers
in Mumbai, need to work 20 nine-hour days - roughly the equivalent of one
month's salary - to purchase the nano.
Living
costs were calculated based on a survey of 154 items, including 122 products
and services that are used directly to calculate the reference basket.
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