General Observations:
- All eight metropolitan cities of India ended up with “average” rating, or a little worse, with their overall scores.
- Ahmedabad turned out to be the best of India’s metropolitans, edging ahead of Pune, Mumbai and Delhi in a very close contest.
- Ahmedabad and Pune, which are at the top of the rankings, are also the two smallest cities on the list, giving rise to the speculation that Indian cities find it increasingly difficult to cope as they grow beyond a certain size.
- Delhi and Mumbai, which are two really big cities and have done well in rankings, can attribute their scores to their historical advantages – Delhi is the political capital and Mumbai is the commercial capital of the country.
- Most cities have their areas of strength and weakness in a matrix of 30 parameters, which ends up evening out the balance quite a bit at the overall level. However, bottom-placed Kolkata showed up as a laggard on most counts.
- Both Mumbai and Delhi emerge as shoppers’ paradise with a score of 3.50 on the scale of 1.00 to 5.00 for the variety and options available to shoppers, ranging from plush malls and designer labels to fabled market enclaves and eclectic shopping streets. By rough estimates, over 40% of organized retail sales in the country are concentrated out of Mumbai and Delhi.
- Commuting and local administration related issues were found to be common problems for all eight Indian metropolitans. No city averaged more than 2.50 on traffic and parking facilities, which indicates how exponentially vehicles are increasing on cities’ roads and how poorly these cities are planned to accommodate them.
- Lack of parking facilities, open spaces, sporting infrastructure, civic sense are the parameters on which India’s biggest cities failed to score much.
- When residents were asked to rate healthcare in eight mega-cities for quality, affordability and value for money, they rated Delhi and Ahmedabad the highest with the score of 3.20, and perceived them as having best hospitalization facilities. Bangalore and Chennai followed closely with 3.00 score.
- Respondents of the TOI-IMRB Quality Of Life Survey perceived Delhi and Bangalore as being better destinations for jobs giving them a score of 3.40, while Mumbai followed closely and scored 3.20 on a scale of 1.00 to 5.00. Mumbai, once home to a vibrant textile industry, began to register a decline in employment since 1980s with closure of the textile mills and manufacturing slowdown.
- Mumbaikars have the least peace of mind among residents of the urban cities. Delhiites fared just as badly. The stress and strain of daily life and a skewed work-life balance has dampened the ability of these cities’ residents to let their hair down, robbing them of leisure time.
- The Survey finds that no metropolitan in the country has an iota of respect for elders, and one all too frequently sees people brushing past elders brusquely everywhere. The value system seems to have gone down the drain and needs to be restored and enhanced, and the respect for values inculcated in all.
