Despite high inflation, India is the cheapest major economy, according to a survey of global prices of products comparable across countries.
According to a report by Germany's Deutsche Bank, a weaker rupee has allowed India to remain the cheapest major economy despite the highest inflation.
"India still runs a large current account deficit. This shows being competitive is more than just being cheap," The Random Walk, Mapping the World's Prices 2014, added.
Australia is the most expensive major economy, while the US is the cheapest developed country. Brazil remains very expensive for a developing country, the survey said adding China remained very cheap in some categories like car rentals, while for a number of branded goods, it was more expensive than the US.
In many categories China was steadily converging on US prices. "For a number of branded goods like Levi's jeans, Adidas shoes and iPhones, we found it more expensive than the US," the report said.
Singapore remains, by far, the most expensive place to buy a car and Hong Kong for renting office space. Zurich was found very expensive in many categories. A haircut there could cost 15 times that in an Indian city.
Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai were the cheapest places for a weekend holiday while Sydney was the most expensive. It is much cheaper to spend a weekend in Tokyo than in Sao Paulo or Moscow. Indian cities are the cheapest for a movie-and-burger date, while Cape Town, Johannesburg, Manila and Mexico City were also affordable. London is the most expensive city for a date. In hiring and deployment of an MBA holder, Johannesburg was the cheapest. "While we recognise the problem of comparing quality across countries and business schools, the US, UK and France were very expensive to hire and deploy an MBA holder from a top school."
It is almost as costly to deploy a graduate from a top school in Mumbai as in Singapore. The survey is an overview of prices and price indices of a wide array of goods and services round the world.
The data was culled both by directly surveying prices posted on the net and from secondary sources. "To ensure prices were comparable across countries, we tried to use products that were standard across countries or had close substitutes," the report said.
MAPPING THE WORLD'S PRICES
A Deutsche Bank global survey of prices and price indices of an array of goods, services. Data gleaned from prices on the net, secondary sources
- Australia and Japan very expensive across a range of products
- The US generally the cheapest developed country
- Brazil very expensive for a developing country
- Japan has reduced its price gap with the rest of the world
- Britain and Brazil a bit more affordable in dollar terms
- India remains the cheapest major economy in the world
- China cheaper than most but gap seems gradually narrowing
