Top Ten Cities in India

India is fast catching up the developed countries of the world. Before the economy was liberalized in the year 1993 by the then finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh there were only four metro cities known to the countrymen and the world. These were the national capital Delhi, the business capital Bombay, the capital of a bygone era Calcutta and the hub of South India Madras. The last three have gone a name change in latter years and they are now known as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively, though retaining their positions as the top four cities of India.

The epoch-making change in India's industrial policy following the decision of the central cabinet to depart from what was known to be Nehruvian policy opened the door to foreign investors. The years that followed saw heavy investment from well-known corporate houses of the world in Indian economy and the reserve of foreign currency kept on rising. The phenomena also led the creation of new metro cities as the limitation of existing infrastructure in the four cities compelled global conglomerates to look for new destination.

The result was the emergence of new cities at different corners of the country. The first among these was undoubtedly Bangalore, now known as Bengaluru, which became the hot spot for all sorts of IT companies. It emerged as India's first IT hub and a sea of professionals from all across the country started to throng the city. Next came Hyderabad, which in a very short span of time became the favorite destination of IT and ITES companies, thanks mainly to then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. Pune, the sister city of Mumbai, was not to be left far behind and it soon became a much needed alternative for the hard-pressed business city of the country. Ahmedabad, Surat and Kanpur are the other cities to complete the list.

Here is my pick of top ten cities of India in order

1. Delhi
2. Mumbai
3. Bangalore
4. Chennai
5. Hyderabad
6. Kolkata
7. Pune
8. Ahmedabad
9. Surat
10. Kanpur