History

Mumbai was originally an archipelago of seven islands. The Portuguese colonised it in 1534 and did little with the islands other than to rename the cluster Bom Baia, which in Portuguese means ‘good bay’. In 1661, Catherine de Braganza married Charles II of England, and the archipelago was included as part of her dowry. The East India Company was quick to capitalise on the deep natural harbour, and the city soon came to be known as Bombay. The first reclamation project began at the end of the 18th century, and by 1845 the seven islands were all merged into a single landmass. By then Bombay had grown from a network of small fishing villages with no more than 10,000 inhabitants to a city of more than half a million people. At the end of the First World War, the city had over a million inhabitants. Today almost 20 million people live in the city, suburbs and satellite cities of Thane, New Bombay, Ulhasnagar and Kalyan. Much of Mumbai’s growth derives from its status as India’s financial capital—the city headquarters most of India’s financial institutions, the country’s largest stock exchange, and is home to glitzy Bollywood, India’s massive film and television industry. Although the city was renamed Mumbai in 1995 by a nationalist state government, many residents and institutions continue to call it Bombay, and the names are practically interchangeable.

Politics

While Delhi, the capital of India, prides itself on being home to the bureaucrats and politicians who govern the country, Mumbai prefers to be known as the nerve centre of business, entertainment and industry. The city contributes a mere six seats to the 545-strong Lok Sabha

(India’s lower house of parliament), but its influence is much larger than that. Praful Patel, the country’s aviation minister, and Milind Deora, MP, represent the dynamic, entrepreneurial, young face of the Mumbai politician. Locally, Mumbai is the state capital of Maharashtra, one of India’s richest and most pro-business states. The current state government is a coalition of independents and members of the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress Party. Other political parties that wield great influence in the trade unions and in the municipal corporation are the Shiva Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), both currently sitting in opposition in parliament.

Religion

India is a secular democracy, and Mumbai is its most cosmopolitan and polyglot city. Hindus comprise 68% of the population, Muslims 17%, Christians 4% and Buddhists 4%. The remaining include followers of the Zoroastrian (Parsi), Jain, Sikh and Jewish faiths, as well as proponents of atheist ideologies.

Economy

Mumbai contributes 10% of India’s factory employment, 33% of its income tax collections, 60% of customs duty collections, 20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of India’s foreign trade and about [00a3]5 billion in corporate taxes. Premier Indian financial institutions, such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange, the Mint, as well as numerous global Indian conglomerates such as the Tata Group, Godrej and Reliance Industries, are headquartered in Mumbai. Although not quite Bangalore in terms of information technology and business process outsourcing, many major Indian and multinational IT/ITES companies are situated in Mumbai, including JP Morgan, Transworks, Efunds, Rolta India, Tata Consultancy Services, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Citigroup. The focus of most of these is back-office processing for corporations and financial institutions worldwide, including financial research.

Population

While Greater Mumbai’s population is about 20 million, drawn from all over India, the city itself has over 17 million residents at a startling average density of 45,662 people per square kilometre. The literacy rate is 77%, higher than the national average. Mumbai produces 170,000 college graduates a year. For a city of its size, Mumbai is very safe. It recorded 27,577 incidents of crime in 2004, which is down 11% from 2001.

Not since the Second World War, perhaps, have so many people from all over the globe come to live in Mumbai. The Foreigners Regional Registration Office records about 20,000 long-term residents on their rosters, even as thousands visit Mumbai on medium-term contracts in the fast-expanding areas of call-centre training and consulting. The number of hotel rooms is about 20,000, and it’s growing steadily to cater to swelling demand. The airports, which handle about 6 million international passengers a year, are currently being upgraded. While the local languages are Marathi and Hindi, English rules everywhere and is the most important medium of communication.