Facts about Mumbai that necessitate its transformation into an IFC

Mumbai-ites are ingenious operators be it their incredible food distribution business of dabbawallahs or their travel via overloaded trains that carry more passengers with greater frequency and for longer hours than comparable mass transit systems in the rest of world.

Mumbai, renamed from Bombay under pressure from nationalists, was once the home of India's thriving textile industry. Today its most famous industry is Bollywood, which produces 200 films a year. Once a manufacturing city, Mumbai is now primarily a services-dominated economy, as factory jobs are vanishing to cheaper locations elsewhere in India.

What keeps the metropolis dynamic is money. Its two stock markets raise capital, fuelling India's super-charged growth (8% a year since 2000). And its financial sector adds to India's vibrancy.

Mumbai's banks process twice as many cheques as those in New Delhi. Some 14% of the national bank deposits are found in Mumbai. A staggering 80% of India's mutual funds are registered in Mumbai, and almost all transactions involving financial institutions, and over 90% of merchant banking transactions are structured in Mumbai. Its two stock exchanges account for 92% of India's stock market turnover.
Mumbai contributes 38% of India's taxes, and gets little in return to remove its infrastructure bottlenecks. Its contribution to the state and national exchequer amount to £4.6bn; state-funded capital expenditure in the city annually amounts to a mere £11.5m.

A megalopolis like Mumbai therefore cannot be ignored and an IFC between Singapore and Frankfurt is a must given the increased financial deepening in Asia and that place can be filled by Mumbai alone.