India's 10 most affluent cities

PTI Delhi, Bengaluru and greater Mumbai have been named as the top three most affluent cities in the country based on lifestyle and consumption habits of the people residing there, according to a survey by The Nielsen. The survey has initiated a new method of defining 'affluence', based on lifestyle and consumer durables' ownership of a household rather than monthly income and education. Rank 1: Delhi The Nielsen Upper Middle and Rich (UMAR) survey has ranked Delhi at the top of the chart of 10 most affluent cities based on lifestyle and consumption habits of the people residing there. Rank 2: Bengaluru Three distinct segments of affluence emerged by such lifestyle and consumer durables mapping, upper middle, upper-upper middle and rich and are quite distinct in their consumption habits, the survey said. Rank 3: Greater Mumbai The grouping was done based on the ownership of a car, a computer, an LCD, and a holiday abroad, the survey said. Rank 4: Chennai "The primary reason for conducting Nielsen UMAR was to obtain first of all a realistic estimate of this segment, and secondly, to profile their media and consumption habits," The Nielsen Company Managing Director (South Asia) Partha Rakshit said. Rank 5: Hyderabad The Nielsen survey estimates that there are a total of 2.5 million affluent households in the country, of which 2.2 million belong to the upper-middle segment, these households own a car and a computer. Rank 6: Kolkata The upper-upper middle segment consists of some 0.2 million households and are owners of a car, computer, an LCD, while the rich segment makes about 0.1 million of households in the affluent pie, who own all the things above in addition have taken a holiday abroad. Rank 7: Kochi Nine in 10 affluent households own a house, three- quarters have a fully-automated washing machine and nearly two in five have a home theatre and modular kitchen. It said English was preferred language for newspapers but television was watched more in regional languages. Rank 8: Pune Nine in 10 affluent individuals watch television and nearly three-fourth read english dailies, the survey added. Rank 9: Jaipur More than three in five affluent persons watch movies outside home and more than half use Internet at home. Overall, the economic slowdown has not impacted spending habits of affluent individuals but luxury accessories and vacations are items where they have cut down spending. Rank 10: Ahmedabad According to the survey, even though nearly half of affluent Indian consumers all are schooled in English, the languages spoken at home are regional Indian languages, the survey revealed.