Mumbai world’s least expensive city: Survey

Kounteya Sinha TNN 

London: For an average Indian, living costs in Mumbai may be a nightmare. But the new Worldwide Cost of Living 2014 index has thrown up an interesting finding. India’s city of dreams has emerged as the world’s cheapest city to live in. 
    The analysis takes into account the concept of value of money — how much bread would you get for one dollar or for that matter a litre of petrol. While Mumbai has emerged as the city with the best value for money spent, Delhi has emerged the third cheapest, placing it right at the bottom of the world’s most expensive cities. For example, buying 1kg bread in Mumbai would cost $0.91 while in Delhi it would be $1.05 as against $3.36 in Singapore which has toppled Tokyo to be the world’s most expensive city to live in this year. The average cost of one litre unleaded petrol in Mumbai is $1.21 and in Delhi $1.14 as against $2.50 in Paris — the world’s second most expensive city. 
    Singapore topped 131 cities globally to become the world’s most expensive city to live in 2014, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). 
    The Index says, “Within Asia the best value for money is in the Indian subcontinent (defined as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). Mumbai is the cheapest location in the survey. Mumbai’s title as the world’s cheapest city is a reflection of the structural factors that define price within the Indian subcontinent.” 
    Besides Singapore, cities making up the top five most expensive cities to live in are Paris, Oslo, Zurich and Sydney, with Tokyo falling to sixth place.