Bengaluru narrows gap with Delhi, Mumbai as economic powerhouse, says study

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the report during the Bengaluru Tech Summit on November 19

Bengaluru is closing in with Delhi and Mumbai as a leading economic and employment hub, according to the Bengaluru Data Book prepared by the UnboxingBLR Foundation.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the report during the Bengaluru Tech Summit on November 19. The report emphasises the need for data-driven governance to sustain Bengaluru’s growth trajectory.

The report highlights the city’s rapid growth in tech-driven industries, job creation, and consumer markets, underscoring its rise as India’s startup and service-sector capital. Bengaluru has added 80 million square feet of Grade A office space between 2014 and 2023, creating around 800,000 prime jobs—the highest among Indian cities.

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Bengaluru leads in Airbnb listings with 5,146 properties, although the average earnings per property (Rs 4.9 lakh per year) are lower than in Mumbai. The city has also emerged as a frontrunner in electric vehicle adoption. In 2023, it recorded 77,860 electric scooter registrations, the highest in India, and ranked second in electric car ownership with 6,811 registrations.

On the digital front, Bengaluru generated 1.43 billion PhonePe transactions in Q4 2023, leading the nation in volume, though it trailed Hyderabad in transaction value. The city also recorded the highest average housing loan outstanding at Rs 31.6 lakh per account and achieved the fastest growth in bank savings deposits, which reached Rs 2.69 trillion in June 2023, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.2 percent over four years.

Bengaluru’s retail footprint has expanded significantly, with 4.25 million square feet of Grade A mall space added between 2019 and 2023. This outpaced cities like Delhi NCR and Mumbai, reflecting top-end consumer growth. The city also boasts of highest per-capita passport ownership among Indian metros, at 25 percent, signifying high mobility and purchasing power.

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Bengaluru continues to dominate the startup ecosystem, leading in unicorns and startup funding. please correct: On the average, in the past decade, about 1,400 startups were formed in Bengaluru each year. This is next only to Delhi NCR, which averaged about 2,100 startups a year

The city recorded a five-fold increase in company registrations over the last decade, with the number rising from 2,278 in 2012-13 to 10,085 in 2022-23. It has also emerged as a key aviation hub, adding 27 domestic air routes between 2017-18 and 2022-23, more than any other Indian city. Its domestic passenger traffic has grown close to Mumbai’s levels, while international traffic has surged with the introduction of Terminal 2 at Kempegowda International Airport.

"Despite its achievements, Bengaluru is yet to be officially categorised as a Tier-1 metro city, a status that affects resource allocation and policymaking. The city also faces governance and infrastructure challenges, including traffic congestion and fragmented urban planning," it said.

"India’s tech hub and startup capital has been growing rapidly. This growth has brought dramatic multi-layered shifts—for good and for worse—within the city," said Prashanth Prakash, chairman of UnboxingBLR Foundation, a not-for-profit platform focused on Bengaluru. "Unlike mega cities like Delhi and Mumbai that have grown over centuries, Bengaluru was a small town that entered the big city club only in recent decades."

"This report, in the making over the last 12 months, focuses on India’s top cities, with Bengaluru in sharp focus. The intent is to bring in a more informed, nuanced, and data-led understanding of India’s top cities," Malini Goyal, CEO of UnboxingBLR Foundation, remarked.

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