There is some good news and there is some bad news for Indian urbanites -- Mumbai and Delhi are among the world's least expensive cities and so people living in the two biggest cities of the country could go on shopping till they drop.
However, they do not have enough in their kitty to splurge on the baskets of goods and services as the wages of the people living in the two cities are also among the lowest in the world. The gross earnings in Indian cities are less than 10 per cent of the wages in top-ranked cities.
According to a study conducted by Swiss banking major and the world's largest wealth manager UBS, Mumbai has emerged as the second least expensive city, while Delhi is a tad expensive as the fourth least expensive.
At the same time, Delhi has been ranked at the lowest position in the earnings chart with gross hourly average wage of $6.1, as against Copenhagen's $118.2.
UBS said in its 'Price and Earnings 2006' report, published on Wednesday, that a Delhi-ite needs to work nearly one hour (59 minutes) to buy a large McDonald burger, which is higher than the global average of 35 minutes of work.
In contrast, in American cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami a maximum of 13 minutes are needed for a mouthful of a Big Mac, while the time jumps to as high as one and a half hours in Nairobi.
Among the 71 cities covered in the study globally, Oslo, London, Copenhagen, Zurich and Tokyo are the five most expensive cities, while excluding the cost of housing.
However, the living costs are highest in London and New York if rents are included.
Mumbai has been ranked at 70th position on the living cost chart, excluding the rent, up one position from its 71st position in the 2005 ranking. The national capital New Delhi is placed at 68th position in the latest list.
While including the housing costs, Mumbai and Delhi move a bit higher on the chart, but still remain among the world's least expensive cities.
The rankings were given on the basis of the cost of a shopping basket consisting of 95 goods and 27 services, which costs $38.5 in Mumbai and $42.8 in Delhi, in contrast to as high as $121.5 in Oslo and more than a $100 in London, Copenhagen, Zurich, Tokyo, Geneva and New York.
Food costs are the lowest in Mumbai and highest in Tokyo. A basket of goods with 39 foodstuffs costs $174 in Mumbai, $195 in Delhi and as high as $723 in the Japanese capital.
The sad part is that Indian cities again rank below the line in terms of wages. While gross earnings are the highest in Scandinavia, while Switzerland, Copenhagen, Oslo, Zurich and Geneva also rank high in the global comparison of wages.
Gross wages in Mumbai, Delhi and other Asian countries like Jakarta and Manila amount to less than 10 per cent of the wages in the top-ranked cities.
While gross hourly wages average $16-17 in Europe and North America, they drop to an average of $5 per hour before taxes and social security contributions in Asia.
UBS said that in the countries benefiting from the outsourcing trend, there might be more employment opportunities, but there is little evidence of rising wages. A constant influx of job-seekers into the big cities, coupled with often rudimentary labour laws in emerging countries are keeping wage growth low, it added.
The net hourly pay in Delhi stands at $1.2 and $1.4 in Mumbai, as against $19.5 in Zurich and more than $15 in London and New York.
The average gross hourly pay of Delhi-ites is $1.4, while that of people in Mumbai is $1.6, as against more than $25 in Zurich, Oslo, Geneva and Copenhagen.
However, Asians seem to be partially compensating for low purchasing power through longer working hours as they work the longest hours in the world, which is almost 50 days more per year than West Europeans.
People in Delhi work 2,121 hours and are entitled to 15 paid vacations per year; in Mumbai people work 2,205 hours and take holidays on 17 days a year, as against a global average of 1,844 working hours and 20 vacations. Seoul tops the list with 2,317 hours per year or 50.2 hours a week.