Hyderabad is India’s shaan!

Time to rejoice and celebrate your Hyderabadi shaan! The city emerged with ‘best quality living’ for the third year in a row according to the Mercer’s Quality of Living rankings 2017 unveiled on Monday. Hyderabad has slipped five ranks from 139 last year to 144, on account of decreased power supply and water availability.

The power supply in Hyderabad is irregular, and voltage changes can be frequent. Most households and businesses use generators to provide a back-up supply. Water availability is occasionally restricted in some areas. In April 2016, the city experienced a severe water crisis due to drought.

On the positive side, Hyderabad continues to score high, in comparison with other surveyed Indian cities, on account of lower crime rate- violence is uncommon in Hyderabad and in general, the police force is efficient and reliable.

Mumbai and New Delhi were ranked at 154 and 161 respectively as per the report. For the second consecutive year, New Delhi was ranked lowest, amongst the surveyed cities, with scores remaining constant.

"The survey highlights that Indian cities that have been part of the survey haven’t made much progress on the quality of living scale since last year,” noted Ruchika Pal, Principal and India Practice Leader, Global Mobility.

The only exception is Chennai, whose score has marginally improved mainly on account of public transport, including buses and a recently expanded two-line metro system, and improved availability of expat housing.

“The success of foreign assignments is influenced by issues such as ease of travel and communication, sanitation standards, personal safety, and access to public services,” said Slagin Parakatil, Principal at Mercer and responsible for its quality of living research.

Globally, Vienna occupies first place for overall quality of living for the eighth year running, with the rest of the top-ten list mostly filled by European cities.