INRnews - Indian Real Estate News

While Surat, unfortunately, may be a flood-ravaged city now, it ranks first in the reside, invest and earn index of top 10 cities, and Ahmedabad is ranked sixth. In all, seven cities of Gujarat, highest for any state, find place in the top 100 cities of India. The study also classified Gandhinagar and Jamnagar as ‘delta cities’ or budding centres. Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar rank in the list of top 100 cities in India—Vadodara and Rajkot figure in the next top 20 while Gandhinagar, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar figure in the next 50 list.

Overall, Surat ranks number one on the reside, invest and earn index. The City Earning Index ranks a city with good earning environment, where employment levels and employment growth are high, where per capita incomes are high, and one where job opportunities are high as reflected through internet job sites. The City Investing Index ranks a city which is a good place to invest in where others are also investing. This is reflected in high credit growth, and the extent to which credit is higher than deposits, and where per capita credit to small business is also high. A city where a large number of people are migrating in also reflects growing opportunities for all.

The City Residing Index indicates a place where (i) public health, (ii) basic and higher education, (iii) utilities and transport, (iv) environment, (v) safety, and (vi) entertainment conditions are good. Health is reflected in immunisation and good quality hospitals, basic education through literacy rates, professional education through MBA and engineering seats per capita, and safety is reflected in fewer murders, crime against women, and robbery and thefts. A good environment is where pollution (as reflected in residential SPM and N02 levels) is low, where temperatures are not too high, where temperature variations are also low.

Adequate entertainment is also an important criterion for residing in a city. Good quality restaurants, malls, and locations to visit in a city reflect entertainment options. These include roads, safe drinking water, and electrified households.

Surat and Ahmedabad are also ranked in the top ten ‘alpha cities’ also classified by the study as the elite club of 10. ‘‘While the 1980s and 90s have seen the emergence of Pune and Hyderabad into this select club, the 2000s are pointing to Surat and Coimbatore. Both have strong economies, have better governance than most other indian cities, are located between other major centres, and are well connected. But most important, they have by their own example shown how the government and citizens can together turn adversity into an advantage and bring about revolutionary changes in a short span of time,’’ the study says.