Mumbai and Delhi cheapest cities - What an interpretation by media?

Last week, I came across the headlines “Mumbai and New Delhi among 5 cheapest places in the world”. The news had been featured as front page news in most of all dailies. The first conclusion, I and many of you would have made is that these two Indian metro cities are amongst the cheapest cities to live in the world for common man.

The newspaper says the survey was done by Economic Intelligence Unit covering 134 major places of the world. I was surprised to read that the survey was done to identify the costliest cities of the world. Hence, the international research firm has short listed 134 major places of the world such as Tokyo, Paris, Zurich, Melbourne, Karachi, Geneva, Singapore and many more. In the outcome of the research two Indian metros were ranked in bottom 5 cities. It means that they are not costliest cities among selected 134 places, but it does not mean that they are the cheapest cities of the world.

As the objective of the survey was to identify the costliest cities hence the short-listing of the cities was done accordingly. If it had been the objective of the survey to identify the cheapest cities of the world, then may be have short-listed different cities from the world. Probably, non-metro cities or other towns may have been short listed.

The objective and methodology plays important role in drawing conclusion. It’s not at all proper interpretation by media.