Bengaluru – leading growth by a distance

India's GDP is estimated at ₹230 trillion for 2021–22. Six cities make up 15.3% of India's economy. Bengaluru is growing at a significantly faster pace than the other cities over the last 3 years at double digits, while the 3 large cities of Maharashtra have been growing slower than the country.

The primarily services-driven economy of Bengaluru (83%) has been able to grow rapidly in the "Work-From-Home" pandemic world and significantly faster than other cities.

Bengaluru – leader in GDI

Bengaluru leads the cities with a GDI of ₹6.8 lakhs — more than 4× the national average per capita GDP. This one number explains the reason behind the large-scale migration to Bengaluru, from both within and outside the state. Bengaluru's population has grown by 70% in the last two decades, while the country's overall population has grown about 28%.

Distribution of Disposable Income

Looking at districts across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, none has GDI less than ₹1 lakh. Dakshina Kannada district, with Mangaluru as headquarters, has GDI in excess of ₹5.1 lakhs — more than 3× the national number.

Analysis Summary

The pandemic has resulted in re-location of growth to certain cities like Bengaluru, while older engines of growth like Mumbai and Delhi are growing around the national trend. This appears to be an underlying decadal trend accelerated by the pandemic, considering the population in cities like Bengaluru and the 4× national average per capita economic size.

A Practitioner's View

Vivek Sunder, CEO of Cuemath and a veteran from the FMCG space: Location is a great proxy for affluence and income levels. Affordability in a given area and amenities go hand in hand with affluence. Data in hyperlocal areas like postal codes is used in the western world to determine customer ability and willingness to pay. He put a unique market penetration model in place for planning and tracking brand growth in hyperlocal areas, using Aaloka.

The analysis for this blog has been done using Aaloka, a unique location-analytics platform, with external data benchmarks.