Bengaluru among six best cities in the world for expats: Report

Karnataka capital Bengaluru has made the list of six cities worldwide that are best suited to expats, according to Bloomberg.

Bengaluru is among the six best emerging cities for expats in the world, seeing as it is pumped with money and has people with a ‘hunger to learn’, a Bloomberg report said.

Bengaluru has been listed as one of the emerging new cities for expats in the world, in a Bloomberg report. (Image credit: Research Matters)

Bloomberg spoke to an individual who ditched life in San Francisco to open a gaming studio in the city's Indiranagar area. Leaving his family behind, the 49-year-old started Lila Games Pvt with two co-founders after he attended a gaming conference in the city. He was financially backed by Sequoia.

“We considered Finland, Latin America and Canada before settling on Bangalore,” he told Bloomberg. He also indicated a “mass exodus” from the United States technology heartland as "people are increasingly disaffected by Silicon Valley, its politics, the crime and the dismal state of education".

He visits his wife and kids once every three months, and says even though many things in Bangalore seem ‘unfinished’, including the roads and buildings, he feels like he is doing something worthwhile.

Bengaluru, also called the start-up capital of India, is funded by foreign investors, with venture capital flowing in faster than to London or San Francisco by one estimate, surging to $7.2 billion in 2020 from $1.3 billion in 2016, the report said.

As one of the fastest growing tech hubs, the city has become home to thousands of successful start-ups and IT companies, luring more and more expats. With that, there has also been a rise in international schools, bars and bistros to serve the growing expat population.

Bengaluru has the potential to become a global city by building a vibrant international community with high-paid jobs and affordable luxury lifestyles, Bloomberg said. The report also named Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, Dubai, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro in the list.