Smart city Ahmedabad? Ranking worst in India, 101st globally, other cities perform better

Global index ranking. Column B: 2016, Column C: 2015

By Rajiv Shah
A recent report by top British consultants, AT Kearney, with branches all over the world, has suggested that Indian cities have far to go in case they wish to become smart. Titled “Global Cities 2016 ”, the consultants seek to answer the question: “Which global cities are performing best today, which have the best long-term potential, and what makes a smart city?”
Seeking an answer to the question, in Global Cities Index, which examines a city’s current performance based on business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement, Mumbai ranks 44th of the 125 cities selected across the world, followed by New Delhi 61st, Bangalore 75th, Chennai 77th, Hyderabad 78th, Kolkata 84th, and Ahmedabad worst, 101st.
The report states, “The Index is designed to provide insights into the global reach, performance, and level of development of the world’s largest cities. It allows for the comparison of diverse cities to help draw unique conclusions about their shared strengths and core differences.”
In its second criterion, Global Cities Outlook, which seeks to project a city’s potential based on rate of change in personal well-being, economics, innovation and governance, Bangalore ranks the best of Indian cities, 73rd out of the 125 cities chosen, followed by New Delhi 76th, Hederabad 91st, Mumbai 93rd, Ahmedabad 94th, Chennai 98th, and Kolkata 110th.

Global outlook ranking. Column B: 2016, Column C: 2015

“Leading the Global Elite once again are London and New York City, which remain the only two cities in the top 10 of both the Index and Outlook”, the report says, adding, “For the second year in a row, San Francisco leads the Outlook, driven largely by its unparalleled strength in innovation. The city’s private investments, a proxy for venture capital, more than double that of the next highest grossing city, New York.”
In Index, the cities which make it to the top 10 are London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago , Singapore, Beijing and Washington DC. In Outlook, other cities which are in the top 10 are San Franciso, New York, Boston, London, Houston, Atlanta, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Munich, and Zurich.
While the report ranks Karachi quite low in both Index and Outlook (85th in Index, and 99th in Outlook), the report makes a special mention of this port city of Pakistan. It says, “Karachi is perhaps the biggest surprise of the new entrants; this could be a testament to recent efforts by leadership to promote foreign investment into Pakistan.”
The report adds, “China and the United Arab Emirates have led recent investment activity into Karachi, which may be beneficial to both as regional business influencers.”
Five criteria – information exchange, human capital, business activity, governance, and personal well-being – forming the crux of the two set of rankings, Index and Outlook, the report believes, should make it possible to “provide clues as to what critical factors of a city’s performance today will aid in the transformation into a leading smart city of the future.”
“Cities with an engaged network of information-sharing, specialized talent, a vibrant economy, and policies that enable technology adoption and experimentation help to define today’s smart cities and can help others as they seek to adopt smarter policies for the future”, it underlines.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Search This Blog