By IANS,
New York : New Delhi and Bangalore have joined Mumbai as the Indian cities ranked among the world’s top 75 centres of commerce, reflecting the growing global economic clout of Asia.
Mumbai is ranked 48th, the Indian capital occupies 61st position and Bangalore is at 66th spot in the 2008 ‘Mastercard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index’ released this week by the world’s leading credit card company based in Purchase, New York.
The Index has been extended to 75 cities from 50 last year, when Mumbai at 45th place was the only Indian city to figure in it.
London remains the global economy’s most influential city, followed by New York at No 2 in the Index, which annually evaluates and ranks how major cities compare in performing critical functions that connect markets and commerce around the world.
“The future, however, appears to belong to Asia and Eastern Europe, whose cities represent the fastest rising regions within the Index,” the study said.
Seven Asian economies to figure among the top 25 centres of commerce are: Tokyo (3rd), Singapore (4th), Hong Kong (6th), Seoul (9th), Osaka (19th), Taipei (22nd) and Shanghai (24th).
In terms of financial flow, Mumbai (ranked 7) and Shanghai (ranked 9) reflect the growing importance of India and China in global financial markets.
Prague at 49th and Moscow at 51st place overall indicate the rise of Eastern Europe in the global urbanised economy.
The Mastercard study rates cities on seven key criteria: legal and political framework, economic stability, ease of doing business, financial flow, business centre, knowledge creation and information flow, and liveability.
While Mumbai and New Delhi did well in terms of ‘economic stability,’ they fared badly in ‘knowledge creation and information flows.’ Bangalore scored high on economic stability.
Los Angeles at No 17 has dropped out of the Index’s top 10, leaving only New York and Chicago as the North American cities in it.
The MasterCard Index is compiled from research by a panel of eight independent economic, urban development and social-science experts from leading academic and research institutions around the world. The panel is led by Dr. Michael Goldberg and includes an Indian origin person, Manu Bhaskaran, Partner/Head, Economic Research, Centennial Group, Singapore.