Delhi, Mumbai to join world’s richest list by ’25

India’s political and financial capitals, Delhi and Mumbai respectively, are likely to witness a significant jump in economic growth, along with other emerging markets, and make it to the league of the world’s wealthiest cities by 2025, a report says. “New York, London and Paris may trip off the tongue as the world’s top cities in terms of wealth but over the next 15 years emerging cities like Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Mumbai will give them a run for their money,” the Observer said, quoting a research report of consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The league table of the world’s great cities is going to change radically between now and 2025, thanks to the economic growth of many cities in the emerging world, which is likely to be much stronger than that in many developed economies. According to PwC, Delhi, Guangzhou, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul and Cairo are all likely to rise rapidly up the table between now and 2025. The current and projected top five in the global gross domestic product per capita rankings are likely to remain the same—Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London and Chicago. Citing the PwC report, the Observer said, Shanghai is set to rise from its current 25th place to 9th by 2025, with Mumbai likely to storm to 11th from its current slot of 29. Beijing would leap from 38th to 17th place and Sao Paulo in Brazil would jump to 6th from the present 10th place by 2025. Quoting PwC head of macroeconomics John Hawksworth, the report said: “If you look at the projected percentage GDP growth from 2008 to 2025 of the top emerging and the top advanced economy cities, the comparison is stark.” Cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Mumbai, for example, are projected to grow at around 6-7% per annum in real terms, whereas cities such as New York, Tokyo, Chicago and London would grow only at around 2%. “In absolute terms, the projected rise in Shanghai’s GDP between 2008 and 2025 is greater than the combined GDP increase for London and Paris together,” the report added. The Observer further added that: “Lots of American and European cities, however, are set to slide sharply over the same period, with cities like Sydney, Singapore and Madrid likely to drop out of the top 30 altogether.” The PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates of city output are based on combining United Nations population estimates for cities in 2008 with estimates of GDP per capita at purchasing power parities, which equalise the approximate costs of living.