Pune leads economic vitality rankings
Pune has retained its position as India's most economically vital metropolitan city, according to Dun & Bradstreet's City Vitality Index (CVI) for April-June 2026. The report, released on Wednesday, August 19, credited Pune's diversified strengths across IT services, advanced manufacturing, automotive industries, education, and innovation-led economic activity for its top ranking.
Kolkata recorded the strongest growth momentum among metropolitan cities, signalling accelerating economic activity and investment potential. Ahmedabad secured the second overall position in the index, which tracked economic vitality across more than 800 districts nationwide using satellite-derived Earth Observation data and economic indicators.
Emerging cities gain momentum
While established metropolitan centres continue to anchor the economy, the report highlighted a growing contribution from emerging cities and districts. South 24 Parganas topped the emerging city rankings, followed by North 24 Parganas and Thane, underscoring the rising economic importance of areas beyond India's conventional metro centres.
Jaipur, Nashik, Surat, Murshidabad, and Ranga Reddy continue to strengthen their economic footprint, becoming important contributors to regional development, the report said.
Economic diversification expands
"While metropolitan centres such as Pune continue to drive economic scale and productivity, an increasing number of emerging cities and districts are becoming significant contributors to investment, enterprise creation, and job generation," said Dr. Arun Singh, Chief Economist at Dun & Bradstreet India.
The report noted that India's urbanisation journey is entering a more inclusive and geographically diversified phase, with businesses, investments, talent, and infrastructure development expanding across emerging cities at an accelerating pace.
Decades of resilience
Several districts have consistently outperformed over the past decade, including Dimapur, Panchmahals, Anand, Ayodhya, Rampur, Basti, Shamli, Boudh, Aurangabad, and Koderma. These districts demonstrated sustained economic resilience and long-term growth momentum since the second quarter of 2012.
The report added that new growth corridors will be increasingly important for investors, enterprises, developers, and policymakers looking for future opportunities to allocate their resources effectively.