Specialised cities

Cities do not only grow. They specialise: each becomes known for something.

Mumbai: the Bombay Stock Exchange opened in 1875 (the 'share market' you hear about). This made the port city India's financial capital.

Trade grew, talented people came from all parts of society, and contact with ideas from the world led to new things, including a film industry that began in the 1910s and was flourishing by the 1930s.

Bengaluru, the 'Silicon Valley of India', became an IT hub. It has many software companies, start-ups and colleges and universities.

The key idea: similar industries group together in clusters, and close links between industry and education lead to new ideas.

That is why one city gets an industry and a similar city does not. Companies like to be near other companies in their field, for skilled workers, suppliers and ideas.

Smaller cities specialise too:

• Moradabad: brass work;
• Ludhiana and Tirupur: textiles;
• Jaipur: handicrafts and gem jewellery;
• Channapatna: wooden toys;
• Kanchipuram: silk sarees.

Some cities grow because they are cheaper. Kochi, Indore, Lucknow and Nagpur attract warehouses and offices because running a business there costs less than in the biggest cities, and they can still serve customers across India and abroad.

Some grow on heritage and pilgrimage:

• Agra: the Taj Mahal draws 70–80 lakh visitors a year;
• Amritsar and Varanasi draw pilgrims.

Visitors support transport, hotels, food stalls and handicrafts.

Delhi has been a centre of culture, trade and government since the Iron Age.

As Delhi grew, there was pressure on housing, water and sewers. So the National Capital Region (NCR) was created, with NOIDA and Ghaziabad, to ease the pressure on Delhi. Since the 1990s, Gurugram has become a big IT and BPO (call centre and office services) hub.