This is the time of the year when many organisations around the world come out with their lists of cities — the most expensive cities, the best cities for work, the best cities for entrepreneurs and what have you. An Indian business publication, for instance, has just come out with its list of the best cities to live in, work and play. The top five are Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

There will be several questions. Mumbai probably slips in because of the halo effect; it has always been highly ranked. But a few malls don’t make a city; there is little else on offer at Gurgaon. And why has Calcutta been forgotten? It should rank very high on “live” and “play”, though “work” joined the absconders’ list a long time ago.

Another recently published list is the CB Richard Ellis ranking of the world’s most expensive office markets. Mumbai gets a look in here at No. 6, while Delhi has dropped to 12th place. Occupancy costs were actually down in most places, thanks to the global slowdown. The top three decreases were in Singapore, New York and Hong Kong.

Look at it from another angle. Mumbai is the second least expensive city while Delhi is four places from the bottom, according a 2006 survey conducted by Swiss banking major UBS. (Things have not changed very much since then.) Of the 71 cities studied, Oslo, London, Copenhagen, Zurich and Tokyo were the most expensive.

The UBS Price and Earnings 2006 report also looked at salaries. It calculated that a Delhiite has to work for 59 minutes to earn enough to buy a large McDonald burger. Against this, a New Yorker needs just 13 minutes. At the other end of the scale, Nairobi clocks in at one-and-a-half hours.

If you have already started feeling puzzled by these anomalies, here’s another. According to a Cost of Living survey from HR consulting firm Mercer, the most expensive city for expatriates is Moscow. This 2008 ranking puts Tokyo in second place and London at No. 3.

One would expect Indian cities (given the UBS survey) to be off the map altogether. But that’s not the case. Mumbai is there at No. 48 and Delhi at No. 55. Even Nairobi figures at No. 103, much above the bottom-ranked Asunció (Paraguay). In terms of rental properties for expats, Mumbai is actually at No. 4, ahead of many more tony addresses.

If you want to know where an Indian city tops, it’s in population density. Mumbai has 29,650 people per sq km and Calcutta is No. 2 with 23,900. The most crowded Chinese city — Shenzhen — has 17,150. Places like Boston have just 900 and Atlanta 700. Small wonder Indians feel they are at sea when they visit these places.

Many of these statistics — particularly the cost of living survey — are used by companies when they are transferring their staff to other locations. “IBM, for instance, is asking its staff to accept pink slips at some locations in the US and then rejoin in India at ‘Indian’ salaries,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. “Or an Indian company may post you from Calcutta to Mumbai. How does the IBM employee — if he is at all willing to move — calculate whether the pay cut can be made up because of lower costs? How does the Calcutta-leaver — and there are thousands of them — work out the city compensatory allowance?”

Singh has a simple solution. “If you don’t have an alternative, you go,” he says. “If you have the option, don’t worry too much about the numbers; the money will take care of itself. Look instead at what it does to your career. Very often, an unwillingness to move means that you will no longer be considered part of the upwardly mobile set.”

Forget the studies; that’s meant for the bean counters at multinational company dinosaurs. Forget the fact that your savings will be affected or you won’t be able to buy that new set of wheels next year. If you are not willing to travel, you will never go places.

OFFICE’S CHOICE

The top 10 most expensive cities Rank, 2009, 2008

1. Tokyo, (Inner Central), London (West End)

2. London (West End), Moscow

3. Moscow, Hong Kong (CBD)

4. Hong Kong (CBD), Tokyo (Inner Central)

5. Tokyo (Outer Central), Mumbai

6. Mumbai, Dubai

7. Dubai, Tokyo (Outer Central)

8. Paris, London (City)

9. London (City), Singapore

10. Dublin, Hong Kong (Prime Districts)

Source: CB Richard Ellis Group