Indian wages among world's lowest: UBS

There is some good news and there is some bad news for Indian urbanites - Mumbai and Delhi are among the world's least expensive cities. They, however, do not have enough in their kitty to splurge as the wages of people living in the two cities are among the lowest in the world. The gross earnings in Indian cities are less than 10% of the wages in top-ranked cities.

According to a study conducted by Swiss banking major and the world's largest wealth manager UBS, Mumbai has emerged as the second least expensive city while Delhi is a tad expensive as the fourth least expensive.

At the same time, Delhi has been ranked at the lowest position in the earnings chart with gross hourly average wage of $6.1 as against Copenhagen's $118.2.

Gross wages in Mumbai and Delhi and Asian countries like Jakarta and Manila amount to less than 10% of the wages in the top-ranked cities.

While gross hourly wages average $16-17 in Europe and North America, they drop to an average of $5 per hour before taxes and social security contributions in Asia.

The net hourly pay in Delhi stands at $1.2 and $1.4 in Mumbai as against $19.5 in Zurich and more than $15 in London and New York.

The average gross hourly pay of Delhiites is $1.4 while that of people in Mumbai is $1.6 dollars as against more than $25 in Zurich, Oslo, Geneva and Copenhagen.

Asians seem to be partially compensating for low purchasing power through longer working hours as they work the longest hours in the world, which is almost 50 days more per year than West Europeans.

People in Delhi work 2,121 hours and are entitled to 15 days paid vacations per year. In Mumbai, people work 2,205 hours and take holidays for 17 days a year as against a global average of 1,844 working hours and 20-day vacations. Seoul tops the list with 2,317 hours per year.

UBS said that in countries benefiting from the outsourcing trend, there might be more employment opportunities, but there is little evidence of rising wages. "A constant influx of job-seekers into the big cities, coupled with often rudimentary labour laws, are keeping wage growth low," it added.

UBS said in its Price and Earnings 2006 report, published today, that a Delhiite needs to work nearly one hour (59 minutes) to buy a large McDonald burger, which is higher than the global average of 35 minutes of work. In contrast, in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, a maximum of 13 minutes are needed for a mouthful of Big Mac while the time jumps to as high as one and a half hours in Nairobi.

Among the 71 cities covered in the study globally, Oslo, London, Copenhagen, Zurich and Tokyo are the five most expensive cities while excluding the cost of housing. The living costs are the highest in London and New York if rents are included.

Mumbai has been ranked at the 70th position on the living cost chart, excluding the rent, up one position from its 71st position in the 2005 ranking. New Delhi is placed at the 68th position in the latest list.

After including the housing costs, Mumbai and Delhi move a bit higher on the chart, but still remain among the world's least expensive cities.

The rankings were given on the basis of the cost of a shopping basket of 95 goods and 27 services, which costs $38.5 in Mumbai and $42.8 in Delhi in contrast to as high as $121.5 in Oslo and more than $100 in London, Copenhagen, Zurich, Tokyo, Geneva and New York.

Food costs are the lowest in Mumbai and the highest in Tokyo. A basket of goods with 39 foodstuffs costs $174 in Mumbai, $195 in Delhi and as high as $723 in Tokyo.