How do people with normal salaries survive in Mumbai/Delhi?

BritAsian

Looking at the Cost of Living Rankings it is extraordinary how fast the big indian cities have rocketed towards the top.

Mumbai and Delhi have now got a higher cost of living than Washington DC according to the most well known ranking (Mercer).

Where does this leave people with ordinary salaries (teachers, medical staff, government workers)? I assume their salaries haven't suddenly increased to 'Western' levels in 3-4 years so how can they possibly afford to pay 'Western' prices?

How do they survive?

Khak

if your leave aside cost of house rent, most localites (consisting of spouse and 1/2 child) can surive on < Rs. 10K a month

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the opoponax

Washington DC also has a pretty low cost of living, compared to other western cities. It's definitely one of the cheaper major cities in the US, and the US is child's play compared to most of Europe.

I talked to some friends in Kolkata who are dealing with this, though. Certain industries have exploded, while others haven't seen much change. They're basically lucky to have the place they have and to have planned well, financially. It seemed sort of the same as the situation of a lot of people in New York - when real estate went crazy a few years ago, they were lucky to already be pretty well settled. It makes me wonder what younger folks in the Indian metros are dealing with.

madan80

i had read somewhere that Moscow topped in terms of cost of living. disposable income levels have skyrocketed in India, however, there is still a very large part of the population that retains its old lifestyles.

There is a considerable strain on the pocket, but it is manageable.

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crvlvr

Cost of Living number depend to a great extent on how the basket of goods and services was calculated. Could you share the details on where you got these CPI numbers for India from?

shere

With incomes for some rising and little of this filtering through to the masses it is a tricky situation for the Indian government. Farmers across India are fed up of the constant rise in input prices but lack of similar rise in their produce. If the output prices for farm produce rises then it hits your low income families the hardest.

I reckon I could manage to have a good meal at a Dhaba etc every day and bottled water for less than RS3000. If I cut out the Dhaba meals then I am sure I cut easily survive on RS1800 per month.

pan_nv

the biggest expense one would occur is place to live, most already own house/apt or have rented the place for years and the rent is not much. I remember our rent in mumbai was like Rs 26 a month. The apt building was owned by parsi trust, I don't remember a rent increase ever or I don't recall.
But now it amazes me how much money people spend to buy real estate in mumbai, not sure where they get money. I need to know the secret of printing money, perhaps a good color printer.

the opoponax

This is why I wonder how younger people are dealing with it. The folks in Kolkata I spoke to are older, in their 50's (a friend's parents). They've lived in the same flat for 30 years. With that and smart saving, they're going to be fine.

It's someone my age I'd worry about -- what happens to the bright young things who don't luck into an IT or call center job? How do they pay the rent? This is a big deal where I live; unless you're an investment banker, people under 30 are gradually being pushed out to neighborhoods further and further from the center. As transit costs go through the roof. Granted the American economy is going to collapse before it gets to be too much of a problem (sometime this week, if the bloggers know what they're talking about). But it still sucks.

Nick-H

Those silly rents are Govt (and, I guess, some trusts) properties. Our Ironing people at the old house were paying something like Rs50 a month. Then they had to move out while the govt repaired their building; no alternative that was anywhere near their work place was offered to this elderly couple, and they had to pay Rs1000 to stay nearby. And that would have been for a tiny place.

To them that meant, ok... no food for the next three months.

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BritAsian

Very interesting replies.

If rent is removed from the equation how do you think other cost of living parameters would compare to the west in Mumbai and Delhi?

How much would salary would you need for a comfortable lifestyle (equivalent to, say, middle to upper middle class)?

jyotirmoy

In Delhi you should have a monthly take home pay of Rs.30000 minimum to lead an upper middle class life.

shashank.aggarwal

Lot of people are paying modern rents , and are leading middle class life, in less than 10 K...

They don't need bottled water, power backups, accessibility to western food, hospitals, markets etc. In places like Delhi its still possible to rent 1 bedroom apartment for maybe Rs.2k..or less than that in some areas...

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puchoo

If the rent quotient is removed i would peg this figure down to even 15,000....but the thing is " upper middle class lifestyle" is too generalized and vague a statement , individual habits is something not taken into account which determine a lot.

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shashank.aggarwal

I second Sid on that !! Someone might be throwing money on lot of things, and the other person might just be acting intelligent..

MrEd

I know that this is something that doesn't apply to the vast majority of people living in Delhi, but what I still can't come to terms with here is the expense of going out to bars and clubs.

In my experience, since having moved here from England, a night out at a bar or a club can cost up to twice what it would back home, which seems hugely out of proportion to all other costs here - and I'm not comparing it to having a chai and a samosa at a roadside dabha by the way!