At a time when India is battling inflation and sky-high real estate prices, the country's most populous cities Delhi and Mumbai still rank among the world's least expensive cities to live in, a new survey revealed.
In a study published on Friday by banking major Union Bank of Switzerland, Delhi and Mumbai were the least expensive cities due to the low prices of goods and services. Delhi also topped the list in terms of the lowest income earned by workers.
"Prices for many goods and services are lowest in the two Indian metropolises of Delhi and Mumbai," the study said according to Reuters.
The annual survey examined the purchasing power of 72 cities and through analyzing the prices of a basket of 122 goods and services.
Researchers of the study noticed that the currency fluctuation is one of the main reasons for the change in the survey result. It was found that Oslo is the world's most expensive city in the world followed by Zurich and Tokyo.
"In Tokyo it takes nine minutes of work to earn enough to buy a Big Mac, while in Nairobi it takes 84 minutes," it said.
Zurich, the home town of surveyors, has the greatest purchasing power among those 72 cities surveyed. The price of goods was divided by the weighted net hourly wage in 15 sectors to calculate the cost of living index.
"Workers in Zurich can buy an iPhone after 22 hours work; in Manila, by contrast, it takes around 20 times longer," Reuters cited UBS as saying.
The survey which looked at other different aspects also revealed that Paris, Lyon and Copenhagen are those cities which have the shortest working hours. Workers in Sydney earn the highest in Asia while those in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America slog the longest. Geneva and Copenhagen also found a place among the top five costliest cities.
