Mumbai is a very expensive city to live in. Ask Mumbaiites. How expensive has become clear now. While citizens continue to suffer, the same can be said of expatriates too! Cost of living for expatriates in Mumbai is very high too. A survey has ranked Mumbai at the 55th spot in terms of cost of living globally. It is more expensive than its global peers like Melbourne and Frankfurt even, said a survey.

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The financial capital of the country is more expensive than cities like Melbourne (58), Frankfurt (68), Buenos Aires (76), Stockholm (89) and Atlanta (95), according to the 2018 cost of living survey by global consulting firm Mercer. Other Indian cities featured in the survey include Delhi (103), Chennai (144), Bengaluru (170), with Kolkata (182) being the least expensive Indian city. Clearly, the public living in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru are having it easy, so to speak.

"Mumbai's jump in ranking is also attributable to a continued surge in prices of food, alcohol and domestic supplies," the survey noted.

Hong Kong is ranked as the world's costliest city to live in for expatriates. Other costliest cities for expatriates on the list are Tokyo (2), Zurich (3), Singapore(4), Seoul (5), Luanda (6), Shanghai (7), N’Djamena (8), Beijing (9), and Bern (10). The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates are Tashkent (209), Tunis (208), and Bishkek (207). 

5.57 per cent inflation has been recorded for the surveyed set of expatriate goods, during the survey period. This is especially true for prices food items such as, butter, meat and poultry as well premium farm produce which have increased significantly, along with prices of alcohol, according to the report. Costs of sporting, leisure-related activities have also played a role in rising prices, followed by transportation costs, which includes taxi fares and cost of registration and road taxes.

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The survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation strategies for their expatriate employees.

93 per cent of companies do compensate through a cost of living allowance for their expatriate assignee, according to Mercer's International Policies and Practices Report on India,