New Delhi: Mumbai retained the position of the most expensive city in India for expatriates while getting placed at 147 in the global ranking. New Delhi and Bengaluru are in second and third place in India.
Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune are 50% less expensive than Mumbai. Kolkata is the least expensive city for an expatriate. Mumbai and Delhi are also among the top 35 most expensive cities in Asia for expatriates.
Mercer's 2023 Cost of Living survey has ranked 227 cities in five continents by measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.
"We have observed a change in the relative positioning of Indian cities in the global ranking, which can be attributed to multiple factors. In particular, the shifting order is partly influenced by currency volatility and the inflationary increase in prices of goods and services in other regions, such as Europe, that has played a role in pushing down the overall rankings of Indian cities," said Rahul Sharma, India Mobility Leader at Mercer.
Indian cities, such as Mumbai (147) and Delhi (169), offer a cost-efficient destination for global multinational corporations (MNCs) looking to set up operations overseas, with a lower cost of living and expat accommodation costs compared to major cities in the Asia Pacific region like Shanghai, Beijing, and Tokyo, said the report.
In the global ranking, New Delhi is at 169, Chennai 184, Bengaluru 189, Hyderabad 202, Kolkata 211, and Pune 213. Hong Kong is at the top spot followed by Singapore and Zurich. The least expensive city in the world is Havana which dropped a whopping 83 spots due to currency devaluations. Karachi and Islamabad are also not very expensive.