Performance of cities and their competitiveness in trying to attract the best is not a recent phenomenon. In India however, the measurement of this is very recent. We at Indicus Analytics attempt to measure these performance on various parameters for most of the urban cities. Our publication City Skyline of India measures the comparative performance of the top 112 urban centers in India. Presented here is this analysis of the top 38 cities of Northern India. Why 38? or why 122? The process of identification of these urban centers is the way that markets are catered to by locations within a state and region. The identified set are the entry points to the large urban market in the region they represent. Thus together they cover the majority part of the state and the country as a whole. A set of broad parameters across 38 cities in the following states - J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajashan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi, were covered to arrive at some interesting conclusions. A composite ranking based on inverse of unemployment rate, employment growth rate, reside in Index, economy index, penetration of 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers, market size and inverse of population growth (higher ranking on any of these indicates easier and better living) was constructed. Clearly Chandigarh and Delhi are the most vibrant hubs and cities around it make it to the top bracket. Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Rupanagar and Ambala form one vibrant cluster apart from the established NCR cluster. Indore is the lone ranger outside these two clusters. It is clear that the performance of the state does push the cities performance. Punjab and Haryana have been the most consistent high performing states, while UP, MP and Rajasthan are among the lowest performers in these 38 cities, there are hardly any surprises. Most of these are traditional centres and have not benefited from the surging economy in the same way as rest of the major urban center in the country have. Moradabad with its export potential does seem to be an outlier, however the current slowdown may actually impact this city. It may be noted that these 38 centres analyzed are the top ones in terms of market size. Hence, they are the bottom 10 out of the top 38 only, and continue to be among the top cities of the region. We also looked at a few psychographic characteristics - Experimentation, Westernization and Cosmopolitan character of the city. The table shows the cities that scored very high on the above characteristics

1. Indicus Analytics, An Economics Research Firm
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Cities in Northern India- A
comparative analysis
Peeyush Bajpai,
COO, Indicus Analytics (www.indicus.net)
Published in
The Economic Times
19th March, 2008
Performance of cities and their competitiveness in trying
to attract the best is not a recent phenomenon. In India
however, the measurement of this is very recent. We at
Indicus Analytics attempt to measure these performance
on various parameters for most of the urban cities. Our
publication City Skyline of India measures the
comparative performance of the top 112 urban centers in
India. Presented here is this analysis of the top 38 cities
of Northern India. Why 38? or why 122? The process of
identification of these urban centers is the way that
markets are catered to by locations within a state and
region. The identified set are the entry points to the large
urban market in the region they represent. Thus together
they cover the majority part of the state and the country
as a whole.
The past few years had seen unprecedented growth in
many of the urban centers in India. Most cities in
northern India led this with huge surge in consumer
confidence, employment opportunities and investments.

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The real estate story of Delhi and the NCR have become
legends. So which is the best cities to live and work in?
There is no straight answer to a broad question of this
nature. Indicus Analytics recent analysis on top cities of
Northern India attempts to capture this. A, closer look at
some of the economic and psychographic data reveals
clear differentiation between these cities.
A set of broad parameters across 38 cities in the following
states - J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana,
Chandigarh, Rajashan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattigarh, Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi, were covered to arrive at
some interesting conclusions.
A composite ranking based on inverse of unemployment
rate, employment growth rate, reside in Index, economy
index, penetration of 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers, market
size and inverse of population growth (higher ranking on
any of these indicates easier and better living) was
constructed.
Table: The overall performance of cities in Northern India
Bottom
Top Ten Rank Ten Rank
Gurgaon 1 Ajmer 29
Chandigarh 2 Bikaner 30
Noida 3 Kanpur 31
Shimla 4 Varanasi 32
Delhi 5 Meerut 33
Ambala 6 Agra 34
Ludhiana 7 Durg-Bhilai 35
Jaipur 8 Allahabad 36
Rupnagar 9 Moradabad 37
Indore 10 Bareilly 38
Source: The City Skyline of India, 2008-09
(http://www.indicus.net)
Clearly Chandigarh and Delhi are the most vibrant hubs
and cities around it make it to the top bracket.
Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Rupanagar and Ambala form one

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vibrant cluster apart from the established NCR cluster.
Indore is the lone ranger outside these two clusters. It is
clear that the performance of the state does push the
cities performance. Punjab and Haryana have been the
most consistent high performing states, while UP, MP and
Rajasthan are among the lowest performers in these 38
cities, there are hardly any surprises. Most of these are
traditional centres and have not benefited from the
surging economy in the same way as rest of the major
urban center in the country have. Moradabad with its
export potential does seem to be an outlier, however the
current slowdown may actually impact this city. It may be
noted that these 38 centres analyzed are the top ones in
terms of market size. Hence, they are the bottom 10 out
of the top 38 only, and continue to be among the top
cities of the region.
Annual per capita income of some of the cities shows the
vast disparities that exist in the cities. While income levels
in Chandigarh are the highest they are more than six
times that of Varanasi. Even Delhi has income levels that

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are almost half of those in Chandigarh.
Table: annual per capita income of urban households in
some of the cities
Annual per
capita income
Cities (Rupees)
Chandigarh 142,000
Noida 86,000
Rupnagar 80,000
Delhi 79,000
Jabalpur 37,000
Moradabad 29,000
Varanasi 26,000
Source: The City Skyline of India, 2008-09
(http://www.indicus.net)
In terms of market size the top cities are Delhi,
Chandigarh, Faridabad, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Raipur, Amritsar,
Kanpur, Indore, Lucknow. However, Delhi towers above all
the cities and is nearly 10 times larger than its nearest
rival. It is the large market and accompanying
opportunities which makes Delhi attractive, even though it
scores low on several other parameters.
When we look at two interlinked parameters
unemployment rates and the employment growth rate, we
find an interesting result and the top cities that emerge
are - Panipat, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Delhi, Jaipur,
Hisar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Ghaziabad. Panipat,
Hisar and Jaipur make the cut on this score, indicating
that these might be the cities to watch out for in the
future.
Indicus has formulated an “economy index” which reflects
the economic conditions in a particular city, opportunities
to start a new business, investment etc. On the basis of
rankings based on the “economy index”, the top five cities
are Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Panipat, Ludhiana. The
relatively new centres such as Gurgaon, Noida and

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Chandigarh, clearly outrank Delhi.
On the basis of rankings based on “Reside-in index”
(Reflects a city’s suitability for residing based on the
following Sub-heads: Health, Education, Environment,
Safety, Public Facilities, Entertainment and Housing) the
top cities are Shimla, Rupnagar, Gurgaon, Noida,
Chandigarh, Bhopal, Ambala, Patiala, Udaipur, Hisar. Delhi
get’s knocked out of the top ten list and in fact comes in
at a lowly 14th rank. Clearly, everyday living is tougher in
Delhi compared to the above cities.
The reason Chandigarh ranks high is that it scores well
across all the parameters mentioned. Cities like Jaipur,
Udaipur, Lucknow and Bhopal make the cut on one or two
parameters only and hence fall back on overall rankings.
Delhi scores poorly on some of the parameters but the
sheer size continues to make it an attractive destination
for migrants.
We also looked at a few psychographic characteristics -
Experimentation, Westernization and Cosmopolitan
character of the city. The table shows the cities that
scored very high on the above characteristics.
Table: Top cities of Northern India across various psycho-graphic indices
Cosmopolitan Westernization Experimentation
Index Index Index
Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh
Delhi Delhi Delhi
Patiala Patiala Shimla
Ambala Ambala Agra
Faridabad Shimla Udaipur
Source: The City Skyline of India, 2008-09
(http://www.indicus.net)
These are the most happening cities of the region and
with a few exception most of them also rank high on the
economic parameters presented earlier. It’s interesting to
note that major tourist destinations such as Agra,
Dehradun, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Shimla score high on

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psychographic indices.
Past data is a good indicator of how current and future
performance would be. The current trends may change
this scenario. The global slowdown has impacted the
growth in most parts of urban India. The growth has
slowed, employment rates affected, salary raises frozen
and general confidence is low. But it will be a while till the
impact of the current slowdown is visible through
statistics. We will just have to wait and watch how each
of these cities of Northern India withstand the current
recessionary trends.
(The data is from Indicus Analytics publication “The City
Skyline of India 2008-09”. Indicus Analytics is one of
India's premier economics research firm specializing in
providing data on consumers, demography and markets at
various geographical levels.)
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