Pune, second largest city in the state of Maharashtra and in close proximity to financial capital Mumbai, is set to join the ranks of 6 metropolitan cities in India, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
A study by ASSOCHAM conducted in October this year, evaluated four upcoming tier II cities: Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Chandigarh as the most likely contenders for India’s 7th metro city and compared them on eight parameters that were considered metro requisites. Pune was ranked first on 5 of the parameters.
*Business Environment: Pune was viewed as the city with the most optimistic business outlook, followed by Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Lucknow respectively.
Fast becoming a major industrial hub in India, Pune created 32.7% of total jobs tracked by ASSOCHAM for the period January to June 2008. The state government had also highlighted Maharashtra state as India’s most favourable investment destination based on the AT Kearney FDI Confidence Index Report.
*Employment Opportunities: Pune has been at the forefront of India’s IT/ITes sector, an important automobile manufacturing centre and fast progressing as a multimedia hub. Cummins, Thyssen-Krupp, IBM, Siemens, and EDS all have a major presence in Pune. The city hosts plants by Tata Motors, Daimler and Bajaj Automotive.
Volkswagen is investing 500 million euros ($632 million) on a new plant in Pune that will begin production in 2009, ahead of scheduled 2010, with an eventual capacity of 300,000 small cars a year. A number of animation companies (Big Animation, Anibrain, Krayon pictures, Jump Games) have also shifted base from Mumbai and Bangalore to Pune.
*Educational facilities - Dubbed ‘Oxford of the East’, Pune is home to 9 universities, 80-100 public and private institutes along with 6 government recognized R&D centres and 80.73% literacy rate. Next came Lucknow, Golden City of East, with 6 varsities, 5 qualified institutes and 9 R&D centres, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad.
*Real estate cost and availability: Pune has the highest property prices and population among the four cities, while Chandigarh is the next emerging real estate market. Lucknow came in last due to its time-consuming process for acquiring land.
*Infrastructure availability: Pune bagged top spot with 26 malls and multiplexes and 25 star category hotels, followed by Ahmedabad (25 malls & 17 star hotels), Chandigarh and Lucknow.
*Transportation facility: Pune needs to improve on its increasingly congested services (ranked 3rd). Pune reportedly has only 6% of its geographical area for a road transport system which supports a disproportionately high vehicle population due to a lack of efficient public transport conditions. Ahmedabad and Lucknow drew for first position on the connectivity parameter.
*Financial services: Lucknow grabbed first placing on the number and density of offices of scheduled commercial banks per population and transparency in trading systems, followed by Chandigarh, with both Pune and Ahmedabad tying for 3rd position.
*Social infrastructure: Refers to the presence of a qualified workforce, quality institutes and cost of living. Ahmedabad came in 1st with a literacy rate of 79.9% and its high-grade institutes, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), National Institute of Design (NID), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII). Lucknow was placed 2nd and both Pune and Chandigarh were assigned 3rd positions.
Overall, Ahmedabad was deemed the 2nd most promising metro city offering good infrastructure, facilities and connectivity. Lucknow was ranked 3rd as it needs to buck up on infrastructure, business environment and social infrastructure. Chandigarh, the smallest city among the four by area and population, was ranked last though it led in financial services and business environment.
